Épée, Individual, Men

The men’s épée likely had the most remarkable result of any of the 2012 Olympic fencing competitions, as none of the pre-contest favorites made it to the semi-finals. All of the semi-finalists were ranked outside of the top 10 in the FIE ranking, and none of the medallists had ever won a medal at the World Championships or Olympic Games before. In addition, both finalists won the first ever Olympic fencing medal for their country.

Eventual champion was Venezuela’s Rubén Limardo, winning only his country’s second ever Olympic title. En route to the final, he ousted the world number 5 (Max Heinzer) and the current World Champion (Paolo Pizzo). His semi-final opponent, Seth Kelsey had won World Championship medals with the US team, and had kicked out Nikolai Novosjolov, the number one seed. Limardo’s opponent in the final was Norway’s Bartosz Piasecki. The son of a Polish fencing coach, he had defeated two members of the 2011 French World Championship team - including a narrow 15-14 defeat of Yannick Borel - as well as veteran Géza Imre of Hungary.

The final saw Limardo gaining a clear 14-6 lead, before he almost succumbed to pressure, allowing Piasecki to comeback to 14-10, before finishing off the match. The bronze medal match gave more excitement: Jeong Jin-Seon defeated Kelsey only in over-time, after two double-hits (the fencers touching each other simultaneously).