Champion Country?

[Sarah]

I was thinking, which country turns out the most champion fencers? I don't know that much about international championships, so my guess won't be that accurate. This counts from the late 1800's to now.

My guess: Russia
My reason: I've heard of a lot of Russian fencers, plus it could be that I'm partial to Russia/Polond/Germany.

No one should be yelled at for their opinions!!!! That may hurt feelings. (I should know.)

Sarah

[westcoastsabre]

I had thought it was Russia and Hungary for sabre and france for foil and epee

[wflaschka]

For Foil... (I've been tracking Foil longer than Sabre and Epee.)

The Soviet Union produced a lot of great fencers (usually my favorites), including: Velitchko, Golubitsky, Romankov. Nowadays, those nationalities would be broken out into (iirc) Russia, Ukraine, Beylorussia.

But for sheer numbers, from the 1980s onwards: (West) Germany. In every top eight, there are always Germans. The Germans, in particular, always seem overlooked in lists like this, but they always crowd the finals. Men's and women's. Can't dismiss the Italians either, especially the women.

I just watched the 2002 World Champs on tape. The German men's team obliterated the French team. There were a lot of fresh faces on the German team, which indicates Germany has a deep talent pool. In the World Champs, it always seems like one of the teams is German or Italian (I haven't seen them all).

[edew]

Actually, in the several WC tapes I have, the predominant team in the MF Team events is France. Second is Poland. Then China, Germany, and Italy.

1998 WC MFT: France vs Poland (Poland wins)

1999 WC MFT: France vs China (France wins)

2000 OG MFT: France vs China with Italy vs Poland for bronze (France and Italy win their respective matches)

2001 WC MFT: France vs Poland with France rampaging over Poland by the end

2002 WC MFT: Germany against France with Germany destroying France.

So there's been a French men's foil team in every world championship and olympic game final since 1998, and France wins a good bunch of them.

I can't recall, but I think France also won the 1997 WC in Capetown over Cuba. You have to go back to the 1996 Olympics for France to be shut out of the gold medal round. But their recent success seems to be just recent. They hadn't won another one previously since the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

[Mischa]

The Former Soviet States and Italy, France and Germany are the best.

[nahouw]

Originally posted by Mischa
The Former Soviet States and Italy, France and Germany are the best.

I would agree with this, except for one notable country you left off -- Hungary. Historically, the Hungarian men's sabre, men's epee, and women's foil, and most recently the Hungarian women epeeists.

It is crazy when you look at the historical results on how many times Hungarian sabre fencers occupied all 3 spots on the podium!! I don't think any other country ever achieved that feat once (OK, now that I think of it, I think in the late eighties, the German women's foilist did it once; I can't think of another country that ever did).

[Sabresque]

Yeah, Hungary has always had a history in sabre. Unfortunatly last year they got knocked out of team early.

[wflaschka]

I just visited this page at the Tyshler website and was reminded of this thread.

"Nation cup results"
#1 RUSSIA: 396 results
#2 FRANCE: 329
#3 GERMANY: 287
#4 HUNGARY: 245
#5 ITALY: 228

Ooooh! Here's a better list: World Fencing Championships Results, all nations, by weapon.