Foil, Individual, Men

The Italian fencer Gustavo Marzi, who had won a silver in team sabre at Amsterdam, was the favorite and was never challenged, defeating all his final pool opponents with only 17 touches scored against him. The 1931 world champion, René Lemoine, did not make the French team for the individual event and did not compete. American Joe Levis reached a surprising second place and Italian Giulio Gaudini, the 1930 world champion, won the bronze medal, as Italy took three of the top four places. The hopes of the Germans were concentrated on Erwin Casmir, but he had some unfortunate defeats in the final against Marzi, the Argentinian Ángel Gorordo and Levis. The Frenchman Philippe Cattiau had defeated Casmir in Amsterdam in a final pool bout, when he placed fifth, but in Los Angeles, he was well down in the final pool, placing ninth. Denmark’s Ivan Osiier was appearing at his sixth Olympic Games. In 1936, he would skip the Olympics as a protest against Germany’s Nazi regime, but he returned in 1948 to compete at his seventh Games, 40 years after his first in 1908.