Fencing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Qualifying Criteria

An NOC may enter up to 3 athletes per weapon (épée, foil, or sabre) for the weapons in which there is a team event and up to 2 athletes per weapon for other weapons.

For each team event there will be 8 qualified teams plus a team from the Host Nation if applicable. The teams will qualify as follows:

  • Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) Official Team Ranking as of March 31, 2008 (best 4 teams)
  • Highest ranked team from each zone (America, Europe, Asia/Oceania, Africa) outside top 4 in FIE Team Ranking (4 teams)

For each individual event (weapons which have a team event) there will be 39 qualified athletes as follows:

  • All athletes qualified for team competition (24 athletes)
  • The 3 highest ranked athletes in the FIE Individual adjusted official ranking (AOR) (3 athletes)
  • The 7 highest ranked athletes from FIE Individual AOR by zone (Europe 2, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC
  • The 5 highest ranked athletes from zonal qualifying events (Europe 2, America 1, Asia/Oceania 1, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC

For the remaining individual events there will be 24 qualified athletes as follows:

  • The first 8 from the FIE Individual Ranking
  • The first 8 from the FIE Individual AOR by zone (Europe 3, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 athlete per country
  • The first 8 from zonal qualifying events (Europe 3, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC, open only for NOCs not qualified as mentioned above

Summary

Nation Men Women Total
Individual Team Individual Team
Épée Foil Sabre Épée Sabre Épée Foil Sabre Foil Sabre
 Algeria 1 1 2
 Argentina 1 1
 Australia 1 1 2
 Austria 1 1
 Belarus 3 X 3
 Brazil 1 1 2
 Burkina Faso 1 1
 Canada 1 1 1 1 1 3 X 8
 Chile 1 1
 China 3 2 3 X X 2 3 3 X X 16
 Cuba 1 1 2
 Egypt 1 1 3 X 1 3 X 9
 Estonia 1 1
 France 3 2 3 X X 2 1 3 X 14
 Germany 2 1 2 3 1 X 9
 Great Britain 1 1 1 3
 Hong Kong 1 1 1 3
 Hungary 3 3 X X 2 3 1 X 12
 Ireland 1 1
 Israel 1 1 1 3
 Italy 3 2 3 X X 3 2 X 13
 Japan 1 2 1 1 1 1 7
 Kyrgyzstan 1 1
 Mexico 1 1
 Morocco 1 1 2
 Netherlands 1 1 2
 Norway 1 1
 Panama 1 1
 Peru 1 1
 Poland 3 1 1 X 3 3 X X 11
 Portugal 1 1 2
 Qatar 1 1
 Romania 1 2 1 1 5
 Russia 1 3 X 2 3 3 X X 12
 Senegal 2 1 3
 South Africa 3 X 3 X 6
 South Korea 3 1 1 X 1 2 2 10
 Spain 1 1 2 1 5
 Sweden 1 1
 Switzerland 1 1 2
 Thailand 1 1 2
 Tunisia 1 1 2
 Ukraine 3 X 1 1 3 X 8
 United States 1 1 3 X 1 3 3 X X 12
 Venezuela 3 1 X 1 1 1 7
Total: 45 NOCs 41 26 40 9 8 25 41 39 8 8 212

Men

Épée

Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:

The highest-ranked team from each zone:

Invitational:

^ China received two additional places for team event.

Individual Competition Date Venue Vacancies Qualified
Team world ranking March 31, 2008 26 All athletes qualified for team event
Individual world ranking March 31, 2008 3 José Luis Abajo
Bas Verwijlen
Joaquim Videira
Individual world ranking (Africa) March 31, 2008 1 Ahmed Nabil
Individual world ranking (Asia-Oceania) March 31, 2008 2 Wang Lei
Shogo Nishida
Individual world ranking (America) March 31, 2008 2 Weston Kelsey
Igor Tikhomirov
Individual world ranking (Europe) March 31, 2008 2 Michael Kauter
Anton Avdeev
African qualifying event April 25, 2008 Casablanca 1 Aissam Rami
Asian-Oceania qualifying event April 22–23, 2008 Bangkok 1 Serguei Katchiourine
American qualifying event April 26–27, 2008 Querétaro 1 Paris Inostroza
European qualifying event April 26, 2008 Prague 2 Nikolai Novosjolov
Sturla Torkildsen
TOTAL 41

Foil

Individual Competition Date Venue Vacancies Qualified
Individual world ranking March 31, 2008 8 Peter Joppich
Salvatore Sanzo
Andrea Cassarà
Erwann Le Péchoux
Benjamin Kleibrink
Yuki Ota
Lei Sheng
Zhu Jun
Individual world ranking (Africa) March 31, 2008 1 Mostafa Nagaty
Individual world ranking (Asia-Oceania) March 31, 2008 2 Choi Byung-chul
Kenta Chida
Individual world ranking (America) March 31, 2008 2 Gerek Meinhardt
Josh McGuire
Individual world ranking (Europe) March 31, 2008 3 Tomer Or
Sławomir Mocek
Brice Guyart
African qualifying event April 25, 2008 Casablanca 1 Lahoussine Ali
Asian-Oceania qualifying event April 22–23, 2008 Bangkok 2 Nontapat Panchan
Lau Kwok Kin
American qualifying event April 26–27, 2008 Querétaro 2 João Souza
Alberto Viaggio
European qualifying event April 26, 2008 Lisbon 3 Javier Menendez
Roland Schlosser
Virgil Sălișcan
Invitational/Host Nation* 2 Khalid Al-Hamadi
Richard Kruse
TOTAL 26

Sabre

Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:

The highest-ranked team from each zone:

Individual Competition Date Venue Vacancies Qualified
Team world ranking March 31, 2008 24 All athletes qualified for team event
Individual world ranking March 31, 2008 3 Nicolas Limbach
Mihai Covaliu
Jorge Pina
Individual world ranking (Africa) March 31, 2008 1 Abdulaye Thiam
Individual world ranking (Asia-Oceania) March 31, 2008 2 Oh Eun-Seok
Wiradech Kothny
Individual world ranking (America) March 31, 2008 2 Carlos Bravo
Renzo Pasquale Agresta
Individual world ranking (Europe) March 31, 2008 2 Jaime Martí
Rareș Dumitrescu
African qualifying event April 25, 2008 Casablanca 1 Mamadou Keita
Asian-Oceania qualifying event April 22–23, 2008 Bangkok 1 Satoshi Ogawa
American qualifying event April 26–27, 2008 Querétaro 1 Philippe Beaudry
European qualifying event April 26, 2008 Istanbul 2 Marcin Koniusz
Alex O'Connell
Invitational/Host Nation* 1 Julien Ouedraogo
TOTAL 40

Women

Épée

Individual Competition Date Venue Vacancies Qualified
Individual world ranking March 31, 2008 8 Li Na
Britta Heidemann
Emese Szász
Laura Flessel-Colovic
Hajnalka Kiraly-Picot
Tatiana Logunova
Zhong Weiping
Imke Duplitzer
Individual world ranking (Africa) March 31, 2008 1 Aya El Sayed
Individual world ranking (Asia-Oceania) March 31, 2008 2 Jung Hyo-Jung
Amber Parkinson
Individual world ranking (America) March 31, 2008 2 Sherraine Schalm
Kelley Hurley
Individual world ranking (Europe) March 31, 2008 3 Ildikó Mincza-Nébald
Ana Maria Brânză
Lyubov Shutova
African qualifying event April 25, 2008 Casablanca 1 Hadia Bentaleb
Asian-Oceania qualifying event April 22–23, 2008 Bangkok 2 Megumi Harada
Yeung Chui Ling
American qualifying event April 26–27, 2008 Querétaro 2 Jesica Jimenez Luna
María Martínez
European qualifying event April 26, 2008 Prague 3 Yana Shemyakina
Noam Mills
Sophie Lamon
Invitational/Host Nation* 1 Emma Samuelsson
TOTAL 25

Foil

Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:

The highest-ranked team from each zone:

Individual Competition Date Venue Vacancies Qualified
Team world ranking March 31, 2008 24 All athletes qualified for team event
Individual world ranking March 31, 2008 3 Nam Hyun-hee
Cristina Stahl
Delila Hatuel
Individual world ranking (Africa) March 31, 2008 1 Ines Boubakri
Individual world ranking (Asia-Oceania) March 31, 2008 2 Chieko Sugawara
Jung Gil-ok
Individual world ranking (America) March 31, 2008 2 Mariana González
Jujie Luan
Individual world ranking (Europe) March 31, 2008 2 Corrine Maitrejean
Olga Leleyko
African qualifying event April 25, 2008 Casablanca 1 Anissa Khelfaoui
Asian-Oceania qualifying event April 22–23, 2008 Bangkok 1 Joanna Halls
American qualifying event April 26–27, 2008 Querétaro 1 Misleydis Campany
European qualifying event April 26, 2008 Lisbon 2 Debora Nogueira
Martina Emanuel
Invitational/Host Nation* 2 Maria Luisa Doig
Indra Angad-Gaur
TOTAL 41

Sabre

Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking:

The highest-ranked team from each zone:

Individual Competition Date Venue Vacancies Qualified
Team world ranking March 31, 2008 24 All athletes qualified for team event
Individual world ranking March 31, 2008 3 Gioia Marzocca
Kim Keum-hwa
Orsolya Nagy
Individual world ranking (Africa) March 31, 2008 1 Azza Besbes
Individual world ranking (Asia-Oceania) March 31, 2008 2 Lee Shin-mi
Chow Tsz Ki
Individual world ranking (America) March 31, 2008 2 Alejandra Benítez
Angélica Larios
Individual world ranking (Europe) March 31, 2008 2 Ilaria Bianco
Alexandra Bujdoso
African qualifying event April 25, 2008 Casablanca 1 Nafi Toure
Asian-Oceania qualifying event April 22–23, 2008 Bangkok 1 Madoka Hisagae
American qualifying event April 26–27, 2008 Querétaro 1 Maylin Gonzalez Pozo
European qualifying event April 26, 2008 Istanbul 2 Araceli Navarro
Siobhan Byrne
TOTAL 39

* The host country was permitted to enter eight fencers, distributed between team and individual events as it saw fit: thus, it could enter teams, or have no team and select for only the individual events. Any places unused by the host country of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing would be reallocated by the Tripartite Commission (IOC, NOC, FIE)

References