Fencing at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Open foil

The foil event was an open demonstration event next to the four official fencing events on the fencing at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. A total of 22 fencers from 12 nations competed and fenced 12 matches; eight matches in the French style and four in the Italian style. The matches took place on 23 July 1908, at the Prince's Hall in London from 21:00.

While, the men's foil event was an official event at the earliest three Olympics (1986, 1900 and 1904) and afterwards also from 1912, it was a demonstration event in 1908. The aim of the event was to demonstrate the different styles of foil fencing being practiced in the different countries. Because the styles were very different, it wasn’t possible to compare them. There were no official results of the matches, as the scores were not kept during the matches.

As it was the only open event, it was the only event that could be entered by women. British champion Millicent Hall entered for the event and so became the first women Olympic fencer, as official female medal events were on the Olympic programme from 1928.^[1]

1. ↑ "Foil, Individual, Open". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 November 2020.