Fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Women's foil

The women's foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held on 29 November 1956. 23 fencers from 11 nations competed.[1]

Women's foil
at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
VenueSt Kilda Town Hall
Dates29 November
Competitors23 from 11 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gillian Sheen  Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Olga Orban-Szabo  Romania
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Renée Garilhe  France
← 1952
1960 →

Competition format

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The competition used a pool play format, with each fencer facing the other fencers in the pool in a round robin. Bouts were to 4 touches. Barrages were used to break ties necessary for advancement (touches against were the first tie-breaker used to give ranks when the rank did not matter). However, only as much fencing was done as was necessary to determine advancement, so some bouts never occurred if the fencers advancing from the pool could be determined.[2]

Results

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Round 1

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The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the semifinals.

Pool 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Maxine Mitchell   United States 5 1 21 15 Qualified for semifinals
2 Emma Yefimova   Soviet Union 4 2 21 10 Qualified for semifinals
3 Lídia Sákovicsné Dömölky   Hungary 4 2 19 14 Qualified for semifinals
4 Catherine Delbarre   France 3 3 17 14 Qualified for semifinals
Won barrage vs. Cesari 4–2
5 Velleda Cesari   Italy 3 3 17 17 Lost barrage vs. Delbarre 2–4
6 Mary Glen-Haig   Great Britain 2 4 12 21
7 Denise O'Brien   Australia 0 6 8 24

Pool 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Jan York-Romary   United States 5 2 23 17 Qualified for semifinals
2 Ellen Müller-Preis   Austria 5 2 22 19 Qualified for semifinals
3 Bruna Colombetti-Peroncini   Italy 4 3 25 19 Qualified for semifinals
4 Pilar Roldán   Mexico 4 3 22 23 Qualified for semifinals
5 Ecaterina Orb-Lazăr   Romania 3 4 18 18
6 Nadezhda Shitikova   Soviet Union 3 4 21 22
7 Régine Veronnet   France 3 4 22 23
8 Lois Joseph   Australia 1 6 18 29

Pool 3

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Gillian Sheen   Great Britain 6 1 27 10 Qualified for semifinals
2 Olga Orban-Szabo   Romania 5 1 21 17 Qualified for semifinals
3 Renée Garilhe   France 5 2 24 19 Qualified for semifinals
4 Karen Lachmann   Denmark 4 3 20 21 Qualified for semifinals
5 Valentina Rastvorova   Soviet Union 3 4 22 21
6 Judy Goodrich   United States 3 4 17 24
7 Magda Nyári-Kovács   Hungary 1 5 15 20
8 Joy Hardon   Australia 0 7 12 28

Semifinals

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The top 4 fencers in each pool advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Bruna Colombetti-Peroncini   Italy 4 0 16 2 Qualified for final
2 Karen Lachmann   Denmark 4 0 16 6 Qualified for final
3 Renée Garilhe   France 3 2 17 14 Qualified for final
4 Ellen Müller-Preis   Austria 2 3 14 12 Qualified for final
5 Emma Yefimova   Soviet Union 1 4 9 17
6 Maxine Mitchell   United States 0 5 2 20

Semifinal 2

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Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
1 Catherine Delbarre   France 4 1 18 11 Qualified for final
2 Jan York-Romary   United States 3 2 15 13 Qualified for final
3 Olga Orban-Szabo   Romania 3 2 15 14 Qualified for final
4 Gillian Sheen   Great Britain 2 3 13 13 Qualified for final
Won barrage vs. Sákovicsné Dömölky 4–2
5 Lídia Sákovicsné Dömölky   Hungary 2 3 15 14 Lost barrage vs. Sheen 2–4
6 Pilar Roldán   Mexico 1 4 8 19

Final

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Orban-Szabo defeated Sheen in the round-robin, but had to face her again in a barrage after finishing tied at 6–1 (Orban-Szabo had lost to Garilhe). In the barrage, Sheen was the victor to win the gold medal.

Rank Fencer Nation Wins Losses TF TA Notes
  Gillian Sheen   Great Britain 6 1 26 20 Won barrage vs. Orban-Szabo 4–2
  Olga Orban-Szabo   Romania 6 1 27 17 Lost barrage vs. Sheen 2–4
  Renée Garilhe   France 5 2 26 14
4 Jan York-Romary   United States 4 3 21 23
5 Catherine Delbarre   France 3 4 20 25
6 Karen Lachmann   Denmark 2 5 17 20
7 Ellen Müller-Preis   Austria 1 6 20 25
8 Bruna Colombetti-Peroncini   Italy 1 6 14 27

References

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  1. ^ "Fencing: 1956 Olympic Results - Women's foil". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 454.