Fencing

No sport is more closely tied to Hungary's Olympic reputation than fencing, and within fencing, the sabre. For long stretches of the twentieth century Hungary won team sabre gold at almost every Games, a record that has few equals in any sport. This chapter describes the weapon, the school that grew up around it, its best-known champions, and some of the explanations for the dominance. Names, dates and results are from general knowledge and flagged for checking.

The Weapon

Fencing has three weapons at the Olympics, each with its own rules (check the details):

The Hungarian School

The sabre has deep roots in Hungary, where a cavalry tradition and a culture of duelling and swordsmanship existed in the nineteenth century. The modern school is often traced to the arrival of Italian fencing masters in the monarchy, most often credited to Italo Santelli, who taught in Budapest from the 1890s (check the name and role). His methods and those of his Hungarian pupils became the foundation of a distinctive approach (check how it is described), and fencing clubs in Budapest, often linked to the army, the police or universities, kept the tradition going.

• Coaching lines. Master-to-pupil lineages passed techniques on, which gave continuity (check).
• Clubs. Budapest clubs offered training, competition and a route to national teams (check which).
• Prestige. Fencing had social standing, and champions were well-known public figures (check).

Champions

• Jenő Fuchs. Won individual and team sabre golds at both the 1908 and 1912 Games (check), and set the pattern for what followed.
• Aladár Gerevich. Won gold medals in the team sabre at six successive Games from 1932 to 1960, plus an individual gold in 1948, a span of nearly three decades (check the numbers; this is often cited as one of the great Olympic careers).
• Pál Kovács. A member of the golden team sabre sides of the 1950s (check) and winner of several medals.
• Rudolf Kárpáti. Won individual sabre gold in 1956 and 1960 (check).
• Ilona Elek. Women's foil gold in 1936 and 1948 (check), a reminder that Hungary's fencing success was not only male.
• Later names. Áron Szilágyi, individual sabre gold in 2012 and 2016 (check), and the epee successes of the late 1960s and 1970s (check).

Why Sabre?

Several explanations are offered, and none is proven (check each):

• Tradition. A long cavalry and sword culture in the monarchy.
• Coaching. Skilled masters and a clear teaching method, passed down through lineages.
• Concentration. A small country can dominate a sport with few serious competitors, and sabre was less widespread internationally than foil for much of the century (check).
• Institutions. Army, police and club support, and later state support (Chapter 8).
• Style. The Hungarian approach to sabre, said to emphasise speed and attack (check the claim).

The caution of Chapter 1 applies: the tradition could not be counted on to persist, and the Hungarian lead was narrowed as other nations improved their training and as rules changed (check, for example the introduction of electric scoring for sabre in the 1990s).

Recent Years

Hungary has remained a leading fencing nation, with strength in sabre and some success in epee and in women's events (check the current position). Results change from Games to Games, and the course gives the pattern and not a current table.

Exercises