PARIS, France, July 29, 2024 – France’s Manon Apithy-Brunet and Ka Long Cheung won gold medals in individual women’s sabre and men’s foil fencing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In all, 12 gold-medal events in individual and team epee, foil and sabre are being held at the Grand Palais from July 27 to August 4. International Olympic Committee President and Olympic men’s foil gold medallist Thomas Bach attended the evening’s finals.
Women’s Individual Sabre (36 Fencers)
Apithy-Brunet faced teammate Sara Balzer in the final bout of women’s sabre, winning the Olympic gold medal with a score of 15-12. This was France’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in women’s sabre. In the semifinal round, Balzer won against Ukraine’s four-time world champion Olga Kharlan, 15-7, while Apithy-Brunet defeated Korea’s Sebin Choi, 15-12. The bronze medal went to Kharlan over Choi, 15-14. Of note, in the round of 16, Choi beat Japan’s two-time world champion Misaki Emura, 15-7.
“This morning when I woke up I was thinking I was scared, I’m alive, and I’ll just do my best and just enjoy all the people here and we’ll see”, said Apithy-Brunet. “Tonight, I’ll take my medal and sleep with it. Today I felt many emotions – every match was difficult. I was scared, I’m happy, I'm stressed, and I just accepted them, I said to myself if you want to cry, cry; if you want to smile, smile; and go all the day with this.”
“I got the first women’s sabre medal for France in Tokyo, and now I am happy and proud for my country that I have the first gold, in Paris.”
The top eight includes the following fencers:
- Manon Apithy-Brunet (FRA, gold)
- Sara Balzer (FRA, silver)
- Olga Kharlan (UKR, bronze)
- Sebin Choi (KOR)
- Theodora Gkountoura (GRE)
- Hayoung Jeon (KOR)
- Luca Virag Szucs (HUN)
- Anna Marton (HUN)
Men’s Individual Foil (37 Fencers)
Cheung faced Italy’s Filippo Macchi in the final bout of men’s foil, winning his second Olympic gold medal with a score of 15-14. In the semifinal round, Macchi won against USA's Nick Itkin, 15-11, while Cheung defeated Japan’s Kazuki Iimura,15-11. Itkin won the bronze medal bout against Iimura, 15-12. Of note, in the quarterfinals, Cheung beat France’s two-time world champion Enzo Lefort, 15-14, and in the table of 16, France’s Maxime Pauty won against Italy’s world champion Tommaso Marini, 15-14.
"This is wonderful, one of the best days of my life”, said Cheung. “I got back-to-back golds, and with my French coach, in Paris—that means so much. In the final tonight, I was down 14-12, and in my mind I said I have to try my best, and I made a comeback.”
“When I got my last gold Olympic gold medal, everyone in Hong Kong went crazy and everyone was psyched to fence and be a fencer. I hope like last time this will create even more fencers in Hong Kong. This is a very beautiful competition, one of the best in my life.”
The top eight includes the following fencers:
- Ka Long Cheung (HKG, gold)
- Filippo Macchi (ITA, silver)
- Nick Itkin (USA, bronze)
- Kazuki Iimura (JPN)
- Mohamed Hamza (EGY)
- Enzo Lefort (FRA)
- Guillaume Bianchi (ITA)
- Maxime Pauty (FRA)
The full schedule for Paris 2024 Olympic fencing may be found here.
Find official photos from this and other events on the FIE Facebook page.
Complete and official results for these events may be found here on the FIE web site.