Sabre, Team, Men

In an event long dominated by Hungary, Korea had recently become the pre-eminent nation. They were looking to three-peat in this event, after winning gold in men’s team sabre at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and were currently world ranked #1. Korea won gold medals in the event at the World Championships in 2017-19 and 2022, before losing the final to Hungary at the 2023 World Championships. Hungary came to Paris 2024 as the defending World Champion and was world ranked #3, after the United States. The European country had been the dominant sabre nation at the Olympic Games, winning 10 gold medals.

The United States was upset in round one by Iran, but Korea and Hungary moved on and would meet in the final, as expected. The final was close, no early bout decided by more than two touches, until the seventh bout, when Do Gyeong-Dong defeated Krisztián Rabb, 5-0, giving Korea a 35-29 lead, and the last two Hungarian fencers could not overcome that, Korea winning by 45-41. In the third-place match, France crushed the upstart Iranian team, 45-25, to take bronze. Through 2024, Iran had yet to win an Olympic fencing medal, with this their best result ever in the sport to that date.