Fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's foil

Men's foil at the Games of the II Olympiad
File:Le capitaine Émile Coste, champion olympique de fleuret en 1900.jpg Émile Coste
Venue	Tuileries Garden
Dates	14–21 May
Competitors	54 from 10 nations
Medalists
Émile Coste   France   Henri Masson   France   Marcel Boulenger   France
«1896	1904»

Fencing at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Épée	men
Masters épée	men
Amateurs-masters épée	men
Foil	men
Masters foil	men
Sabre	men
Masters sabre	men

The amateur foil was a competition in the 1900 Summer Olympics. It had 54 fencers. These fencers were from 10^[1] nations. 39 of the 54 competitors were from France. For most rounds, skill was more important than winning.^[2] The event was won by all French fencers. Émile Coste, Henri Masson, and Marcel Boulenger were in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They were all French. This was the second Men's foil in the Olympics where France was in 1st and 2nd place.

This was the second time this event was in the Olympics. It has been at every Summer Olympics except 1908. None of the fencers in 1900 also competed in 1896.^[3]

There were 10 nations in this Olympic Fencing tournament. 9 of these countries had never been in the men's foil before. These countries were Austria, Belgium, Haiti, Italy, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. France was in this event in 1896.

This event had 5 rounds. There were 4 main rounds, and a "repechage". The order was round 1, then quarterfinals, then repechage, then semifinals, then finals. In the first 3 rounds, fencers had a one match (or "bout"). The match results did not matter. Skill decided who went to the next round. The last two rounds (semifinals and finals) were round-robin. The actual results of the bouts decided who went to the next round. The normal foil rules were used. Touches had to be made with the tip of the foil. You had to hit the other person's torso. Priority chose the winner of double touches.^[3]

In round 1, there were 54 fencers. They went against each other in one bout bout. In each bout, there was one winner. A jury decided the 37 winners.

In the quarterfinals, there were now 37 fencers. One fencer would have no opponents. 3 fencers quit the tournament, however. This cancelled one bout. This also meant that one fencer fenced 2 times. The jury chose 10 fencers for the semifinals. They also chose 14 fencers for the repechage.

In the repechage, there were the 14 fencers from the quarterfinals. They went against each other in one bout. 6 of the fencers would advance. One of the 6 fencers quit the tournament, however. This meant that another fencer was chosen from the repechage.

In the semifinals, there were 16 fencers from the quarterfinals and repechage. They were put into 2 sections (or "pool"). Each "pool" had 8 fencers. They would all play against each other in their pool. The best 4 fencers in each pool went to the final. The worst 4 fencers in each pool went into a different final. They would compete for 9 to 16th place. This final was called the "classification 9–16 final".

In the finals, there were 2 finals. There was the "main final" and the "classification 9–16 final". The main final had the top 4 from each semifinal pool. The classification 9–16 final had the worst 4 from each semifinal pool. Each final had their own round-robin tournament.