Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics

The 1896 fencing events were held in the Zappeion, which was a large exhibition hall built in 1888 and named for Evangelos Zappas, an early benefactor of the Olympic idea. King Georgios watched the Olympic fencing matches. The sabre matches started prior to his arrival, but those matches were disregarded and the competition restarted after his appearance in the Zappeion.

At the time, there were no standard rules for fencing and different countries or even different cities within one country used different for such things as the maximum length of the weapons, whether bouts ended when a certain number of touches had been scored, when a certain amount of time had elapsed, or when the judges decided that one fencer was superior to the other, etc. It was decided to use the fencing rules that were used by the fencing clubs in Paris. The bouts were conducted until one fencer scored three touches.

Events were conducted in foil, sabre, and foil for masters - or professionals. The professional fencing matches were known by Coubertin and the Olympic officials, and in fact, approved, as fencing masters, or teachers, were very popular athletes in France at that time. An épée event was also scheduled but did not take place.