Foil, Individual, Men

Peter Joppich of Germany, the 2006 and 2007 World Champion was already a hot favourite for the Olympic title even before his main rival Andrea Baldini of Italy tested positive for a banned diuretic at the European Championships and lost his chance of a place on the Italian team. Joppich and Baldini had contested the last two World Championship finals.

Jopprich did not live up to expectations and instead it was another German, Benjamin Kleibrink, who reached the final, where he met Yuki Ota, the man who had eliminated Joppich in the quarter finals and then defeated 2005 world champion Salvatore Sanzo in the semi-final. Ota fell behind in the early stages of the final and could not bridge the gap to the German who became his nation’s first champion in men’s foil.