Foil, Individual, Men

Since 1904 every men’s Olympic foil title had been claimed by competitors from France, Italy or Hungary. Since the Melbourne Games there had been a subtle swing in the balance of power and by 1959 both the world titles were held by other nations through Allan Jay of Great Britain and the USSR team. At Roma Jay exited early but the three Soviets moved in the final pool with little difficulty. The title was won by Viktor Zhdanovich, a 22-year-old from Leningrad, who became the first Soviet to win an Olympic fencing championship. He would win four world titles in team foil during his career but this was the only major individual title that he won.

Yury Sisikin ensured a Russian 1-2 but a sweep of the medals was avoided when America’s Albie Axelrod won a three-man barrage to clinch the bronze medal. Axelrod was the first American fencer to win an individual medal since 1932. Christian d’Oriola’s attempt at a hat-trick of gold medals in this event faltered at the final hurdle and he placed last of the eight fencers who competed in the final pool.