Foil, Team, Men

If you take 1904 out of the equation as neither country sent teams to the St. Louis Olympics then every Olympic team foil competition had been won by either Italy or France. Indeed only once, back in 1924, had the two nations failed to finish 1-2 in the standings. Their dominance faded in the late fifties with the emergence of the Soviet Union onto the world stage. The Soviet team had won the world title for the first time in 1958 and arrived in Rome with a young team whose average age was just 24. For the first time in decades the medals were decided by gold and bronze medal matches rather than a final pool so the title would be decided in a straight match-up between the USSR and Italy. Although Italy, on average a decade older per man, had the advantage of greater experience, they failed to be a match for the Soviets and fell by a score of 9-4. Germany, who had earlier eliminated France, defeated Hungary for third place.