Sport Fencing
An Olympic sport with three weapons, the foil, épée and sabre. It has been on the programme of all modern Games since 1896 and is governed by the FIE.
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FranceCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
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About Sport Fencing
Sport fencing is an Olympic sport in which two fencers fight with a foil, épée or sabre on a piste 14 m long and 1.5 m wide. Hits are signalled electrically, and under the FIE rules each weapon has its own valid target: in foil the torso, in épée the whole body, in sabre everything above the hips.
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It follows on from the European fencing treatises of the 16th century and from the foil, which came into being in France in the middle of the 18th century as a training weapon. It has no founder and developed gradually. The first regularly organised competition took place in 1880 in Islington, and fencing has been on the programme of every Olympic Games since 1896. The International Fencing Federation FIE was founded in 1913 in Paris. In foil and sabre a point is decided by right of way, that is who began a correctly executed attack first. In épée right of way does not apply and on a simultaneous hit both score. A bout in the basic pool is fought to 5 hits, in elimination to 15. Fencers wear a uniform of fabric resistant to 800 N and a mask with a bib resistant to 1,600 N, and the blades are of maraging steel. Fencing has neither grades nor belts, and competitors are divided by age and performance. At the Olympic Games competition is held today in twelve events, and since 1960 wheelchair fencing has also been on the Paralympic programme. A study by Harmer (Br J Sports Med 2019) recorded 0.28 time-loss injuries per 1,000 exposures at FIE competitions.
History
Sport fencing follows on from European fencing treatises. The Italian masters of the 16th century, among them Agrippa (1553), di Grassi (1570), Giganti and Fabris (1606), wrote down the doctrines from which later fencing proceeded. In France an almost exclusively thrusting style took hold in the 17th century, and in the middle of the 18th century the foil came into being there as a training weapon. Domenico Angelo opened a fencing school in London in 1763 and published the book L’École des armes. The first regularly organised competition took place in 1880 at the Grand Military Tournament in Islington, with bouts to five hits. Fencing has been contested at the Olympic Games since Athens 1896, then in foil and sabre. The épée was added in 1900, and since 1912 all three weapons have been held. The congress in Brussels in 1905 adopted the French rules as the basis of international competitions, the congress in Ghent in 1913 the French rules for épée and foil and the Hungarian ones for sabre. The International Fencing Federation FIE was founded on 29 November 1913 in Paris, and its first president was Albert Feyerick of Belgium. Electric hit signalling was introduced in épée in 1933, or 1936, the sources differ. In foil it followed in 1956 and in sabre in 1988.
Technique
The FIE rules (Technical Rules, December 2025) define a different valid target for each weapon. In foil it is the torso bounded by the collar, the sleeve seams and the line of the hips, and the limbs and head do not count. In épée the whole body counts, including clothing and equipment. In sabre any part of the body above the horizontal line at the top of the hip bones counts. Foil and épée are thrusting weapons, with the sabre one cuts and thrusts. The maximum weight of the weapon is 500 g for foil and sabre and 775 g for épée. In foil and sabre right of way decides: the point goes to whoever began a correctly executed attack first, and when right of way cannot be clearly determined, no point is awarded. Right of way arose in the 18th century as part of teaching. Épée has no right of way, the rules in it regulate double hits, and on a simultaneous hit both score. A simultaneous hit is decided by the timing of the signalling. In foil, hits within 300 ms register as two lights and the referee applies right of way, in épée the limit is 40 ms, and in sabre a lockout time of 170 ms has applied since 2016. In sabre the FIE rules prohibit the flèche and every forward movement in which the rear foot passes the front one completely, and the offender’s hit is annulled.
Training
A study of ten male regional épée fencers (Iglesias et al., J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2019) measured an average oxygen consumption of 44.2 ml/kg/min in a standing bout and 25.1 ml/kg/min in a bout seated in a wheelchair. The bouts were fought to 5 and to 15 hits. The study measured the demands of the bout, not the benefit of training. A study of épée fencers in the Cadet and Junior categories (Di Martino et al., J Funct Morphol Kinesiol 2024) selected fencers who train at least four times a week and belong to the top fifty of their category. This was a condition of inclusion in the study, not a recommendation. We have not found an independent source on the structure of a lesson, a recommended training frequency or the time to a first bout.
Ranks and progression
Sport fencing has neither grades nor belts. In the FIE rules, and at USA Fencing and British Fencing, we have not found a system of skill grades. USA Fencing classifies competitors by year of birth into the age categories Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14, Cadet, Junior and the veteran categories V40 to V80, and alongside that by performance into the competitive divisions Division I, I-A, II and III. It also lists the classes Parafencing and Senior Team. This is a classification for competitions, not titles. We have not found a source on coaching licences or on the origin of the FIE rankings.
Who it suits
USA Fencing places fencers in age categories by year of birth at the entry deadline, not by exact age. The Cadet category is preceded by the children’s categories Youth 8, 10, 12 and 14. A fencer placed in the national rankings of his age group may also compete in a higher category. British Fencing has no separate equipment rules for children and juniors. We have not found FIE age limits for cadets and juniors. The USA Fencing veteran categories begin at V40 and continue with V50, V60, V70 and V80. The FIE rules run a veterans’ bout to 10 hits or in two three-minute periods, and in sabre the first period ends at 5 hits. Wheelchair fencing came into being in 1954 at the Games at Stoke Mandeville and has been on the Paralympic programme since the Games in Rome 1960.
Competition
Under the FIE rules (Technical Rules, December 2025) a bout is fought on a piste 1.5 m wide and 14 m long. In the pool it ends at 5 hits or after 3 minutes of actual time. In direct elimination fencers fence to 15 hits, in at most three three-minute periods with a one-minute break, and in sabre the first period ends at 8 hits. In a team competition the fencers take turns in bouts of 5 hits or 3 minutes, and the team that first reaches 45 hits wins. At the Olympic Games competition is held in twelve events, six men’s and six women’s. Women have competed in foil since 1924 and in épée since 1996, and for sabre the sources give the year 2000, or 2004. At the world championship women’s sabre appeared in 1999. We have not found the year the FIE world championship began. Since July 2020 a salute has replaced the compulsory handshake after a bout, and since 2023 the handshake is optional, with a greeting from a distance.
Gear
The FIE rules and the equipment overview of British Fencing (2026) require a jacket and trousers of fabric resistant to 800 N, an underarm protector, the plastron, likewise 800 N, and a mask with a bib resistant to 1,600 N. A glove of CEN standard level 2 is required by British Fencing in sabre alone, and for foil it lists a chest protector. Blades must be of maraging steel and approved by the FIE. At the world championship in Rome in 1982 the Soviet fencer Vladimir Smirnov was struck in team foil by the broken tip of an opponent’s blade, which passed through the mesh of the mask, and Smirnov died of the consequences. Afterwards maraging steel blades, Kevlar in the uniforms and stronger masks were introduced. Kevlar, however, is destroyed by ultraviolet radiation and chlorine. After a visor was pierced at the European junior championship in 2009, the FIE banned visors in foil and épée. Hits are signalled electrically. The first international competitions in épée and foil with wireless signalling and lights on the masks were held in 2006. We have not found the prices of equipment.
Today
Sport fencing is governed by the International Fencing Federation FIE, whose technical rules in the December 2025 edition cover foil, épée and sabre. Wheelchair fencing is governed by World Abilitysport (formerly IWAS). It is contested in all three weapons in classes A and B, which are Paralympic, and in class C only at world para competitions. A prospective five-year study by Harmer (Br J Sports Med 2019) followed 809 FIE competitions in the seasons 2010 to 2014 with 637,776 exposures and recorded 0.28 time-loss injuries per 1,000 exposures. Men were at greater risk than women, and épée had a lower risk than foil and sabre. Sprains and strains were the most frequent, 72.4% of injuries affected the lower limbs, most often the ankle. Without contact with the opponent 47.1% of injuries arose, and the median time lost was 4 weeks. An earlier study by Harmer of American national competitions (Clin J Sport Med 2008) reported 0.3 time-loss injuries per 1,000 exposures.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.