Repechage (French: repêchage, lit. "We don't know what's going on")
Repechage is a component sometimes used as part of a Direct Elimination table at U.S. National fencing events. It is no longer used by the FIE or by most other National fencing governing bodies.
In a tournament utilizing repechage, Direct Elimination proceeds as normal until the round of 32. Repechage is used to eliminate fencers until there are 8 fencers remaining. Then, standard single-elimination DEs resume for the rounds of 8, 4, and 2.
In short, repechage means that fencers get a second chance if they lose one bout. If they win, they advance, just as in a regular format. If they lose one bout, they get to keep fencing until they lose a second bout or win the entire competition.
START of ROUND 1:
No one has fenced yet.
In the first round of repechage, everyone fences who they would have ordinarily fenced (the #1 vs. #32, #16 vs. #17, etc.).
START of ROUND 2:
16 fencers with 1 victory
16 fencers with 1 defeat
Then, the winners' bracket continues for one more round (the #1 vs. #16, assuming the higher seeds win) and the losers fence each other in a corresponding losers bracket (#17 vs. #32). The losers of the losers bracket have lost twice, so they are eliminated.
START of ROUND 3:
8 fencers with 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 2)
8 fencers with 2 victories and 0 defeats
8 fencers with 1 victory and then 1 defeat
8 fencers with 1 defeat and then 1 victory
Here's where it gets a little hairy. We reseed the 16 fencers with a loss into a table of 16 and fence it until only 4 fencers remain. The 12 fencers who lose during this bracket have 2 losses and are defeated, and the 4 fencers left will all have three victories total and one loss.
We also have the 8 undefeated fencers fence one more round in the winners' bracket. The winning 4 fencers advance out of repechage, and the losers have 1 defeat and have to fence some more.
So we're down to 12 fencers total:
START of ROUND 4:
8 fencers with 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 2)
8 fencers with 1 victory and 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 3)
4 fencers with 2 victories and 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 3)
4 fencers with 3 victories and 1 defeat (winners of the losers' bracket)
4 fencers with 2 victories and 1 defeat (losers of the winners' bracket)
4 fencers with 3 victories (winners of the winners' bracket)
Now, the winners of the losers' bracket and the losers of the winners' bracket are seeded into a table of 8 and fence one round. The losers have 2 defeats and are eliminated, and the winners advance out of repechage!
END of ROUND 4:
8 fencers with 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 2)
8 fencers with 1 victory and 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 3)
4 fencers with 2 victory and 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 3)
4 fencers with 2 or 3 victories and 2 defeats (ELIMINATED IN ROUND 4)
4 fencers with 3 or 4 victories and 1 defeat (winners of the Round 4 bracket)
4 fencers with 3 victories (winners of the winners' bracket)
The 8 fencers still standing are the final 8--they're seeded into a table of 8, repechage is over, and the tournament finals commence.
*A slight bit of this explanation was taken from
www.dominionfencing.org