Foil, Individual, Men
| Date | 26 November 1956 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Town Hall, St. Kilda, Victoria |
| Participants | 32 from 14 countries |
Reigning Olympic champion Christian d’Oriola had been the outstanding fencer in this discipline in the years since the Helsinki Games and had won World titles in both 1953 and 1954. He was runner-up in 1955 behind the young Hungarian József Gyuricza. D’Oriola’s failure to win the 1955 World Championship was partly attributed to his failure to adapt to the new electric foil that was introduced at the championships. By the Melbourne Games it seemed he had overcome his temporary difficulties and adapted to the new technology. The Frenchman retained his Olympic title by winning six out of seven matches in the final pool which was one more than the Italian pair of Giancarlo Bergamini and Antonio Spallino. Bergamini would go on to claim the silver medal with a sudden-death victory over Spallino. D’Oriola was the first man to defend an Olympic title in this event since Nedo Nadi in 1920.
Round One (26 November 1956 — 8:00)
Top four finishers in each pool advanced to semi-finals.
Pool 1
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | József Gyuricza |  HUN | 6 | 30 | 13 | |||
| 2 | Yury Rudov |  URS | 5 | 27 | 15 | |||
| 3 | Antonio Spallino |  ITA | 5 | 30 | 18 | |||
| 4 | Allan Jay |  GBR | 4 | 27 | 15 | |||
| 5 | Hal Goldsmith |  USA | 3 | 22 | 23 | |||
| 6 | Benito Ramos |  MEX | 2 | 19 | 28 | |||
| 7 | Pablo Uribe |  COL | 1 | 13 | 34 | |||
| 8 | Masayuki Sano |  JPN | 0 | 8 | 30 |
Pool 2
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Sichel |  AUS | 5 | 32 | 19 | |||
| 2 | Iuri Osip'ovi | URS | 5 | 29 | 21 | |||
| 3 | Albie Axelrod | USA | 5 | 31 | 26 | |||
| 4 | Günter Stratmann |  GER | 4 | 30 | 25 | |||
| 5 | Edoardo Mangiarotti | ITA | 4 | 26 | 19 | |||
| 6 | François Dehez |  BEL | 3 | 21 | 28 | |||
| 7 | Jacques Lataste |  FRA | 1 | 22 | 32 | |||
| 8 | Gabriel Blando | COL | 1 | 18 | 34 |
Pool 2, Barrage 4-5
| Bout #1 | Günter Stratmann | GER | 5 – 4 | Edoardo Mangiarotti | ITA |
Pool 3
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Netter | FRA | 5 | 29 | 17 | |||
| 2 | Brian McCowage | AUS | 5 | 25 | 17 | |||
| 3 | Raymond Paul | GBR | 4 | 31 | 22 | |||
| 4 | Giancarlo Bergamini | ITA | 4 | 23 | 23 | |||
| 5 | Ghislain Delaunois | BEL | 4 | 26 | 27 | |||
| 6 | Lajos Somodi | HUN | 2 | 20 | 24 | |||
| 7 | Santiago Massini |  ARG | 1 | 19 | 26 | |||
| 8 | Byron Krieger | USA | 1 | 13 | 30 |
Pool 3, Barrage 3-5
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raymond Paul | GBR | 1 | 9 | 9 | |||
| 2 | Giancarlo Bergamini | ITA | 1 | 9 | 9 | |||
| 3 | Ghislain Delaunois | BEL | 1 | 9 | 9 |
| Bout #1 | Raymond Paul | GBR | 5 – 4 | Giancarlo Bergamini | ITA |
| Bout #2 | Giancarlo Bergamini | ITA | 5 – 4 | Ghislain Delaunois | BEL |
| Bout #3 | Ghislain Delaunois | BEL | 5 – 4 | Raymond Paul | GBR |
Pool 4
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Midler | URS | 6 | 31 | 19 | |||
| 2 | Christian d'Oriola | FRA | 5 | 30 | 15 | |||
| 3 | René Paul | GBR | 5 | 27 | 18 | |||
| 4 | André Verhalle | BEL | 5 | 30 | 19 | |||
| 5 | Mihály Fülöp | HUN | 4 | 29 | 24 | |||
| 6 | David McKenzie | AUS | 2 | 17 | 32 | |||
| 7 | Roland Asselin |  CAN | 0 | 13 | 30 | |||
| 8 | Emilio Echeverri | COL | 0 | 10 | 30 |
Semi-Finals (26 November 1956 — 15:00)
Top four finishers in each pool advanced to final.
Pool 1
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Netter | FRA | 5 | 31 | 15 | |||
| 2 | Antonio Spallino | ITA | 5 | 27 | 16 | |||
| 3 | Raymond Paul | GBR | 5 | 31 | 19 | |||
| 4 | Mark Midler | URS | 5 | 27 | 22 | |||
| 5 | André Verhalle | BEL | 3 | 21 | 20 | |||
| 6 | Yury Rudov | URS | 2 | 14 | 28 | |||
| 7 | Albie Axelrod | USA | 1 | 17 | 27 | |||
| 8 | Michael Sichel | AUS | 0 | 13 | 35 |
Pool 2
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian d'Oriola | FRA | 6 | 32 | 14 | |||
| 2 | Giancarlo Bergamini | ITA | 5 | 26 | 25 | |||
| 3 | József Gyuricza | HUN | 4 | 31 | 23 | |||
| 4 | Allan Jay | GBR | 4 | 31 | 24 | |||
| 5 | Günter Stratmann | GER | 4 | 28 | 27 | |||
| 6 | Brian McCowage | AUS | 2 | 22 | 32 | |||
| 7 | Iuri Osip'ovi | URS | 1 | 13 | 28 | |||
| 8 | René Paul | GBR | 1 | 19 | 29 |
Pool 2, Barrage 3-5
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allan Jay | GBR | 1 | 5 | 2 | |||
| 2 | József Gyuricza | HUN | 1 | 5 | 4 | |||
| 3 | Günter Stratmann | GER | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| Bout #1 | Allan Jay | GBR | 5 – 4 | Günter Stratmann | GER |
| Bout #2 | József Gyuricza | HUN | 5 – 2 | Günter Stratmann | GER |
Final Pool (26 November 1956)
| Pos | Competitor(s) | NOC | Bouts Won | TD | TR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian d'Oriola | FRA | 6 | 33 | 17 | |||
| =2 | Giancarlo Bergamini | ITA | 5 | 33 | 26 | |||
| =2 | Antonio Spallino | ITA | 5 | 30 | 21 | |||
| 4 | Allan Jay | GBR | 4 | 29 | 26 | |||
| =5 | József Gyuricza | HUN | 3 | 23 | 23 | |||
| =5 | Claude Netter | FRA | 3 | 21 | 25 | |||
| 7 | Mark Midler | URS | 2 | 19 | 30 | |||
| 8 | Raymond Paul | GBR | 0 | 15 | 35 |
Final Pool Barrage 2-3
| Bout #1 | Giancarlo Bergamini | ITA | 5 – 4 | Antonio Spallino | ITA |