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Olympic Fencing Recaps: 21 July (Day 2)

Women's Individual Epee Preliminaries

French, Italian, Hungarian contenders vie for historic first gold: France, Italy and Hungary -- nations each boasting long and glorious fencing histories -- showed their dominance of epee extends to the women as well during the preliminaries of the inaugural women's individual epee competition at the Centennial Olympic Games. Hungarian Gyoengyi SZALAY HORVANTHNE and France's Laura FLESSEL, who finished second and third, respectively, in the 1995 World Fencing Championships, positioned themselves for a semifinal showdown afternoon. Each survived one tight preliminary bout and won two other handily to advance. Hungary's Timea NAGY, the world's top-ranked epee fencer, was upset in a quarterfinal bout by France's Valerie BARLOIS (15-9). BARLOIS, who has reached five World Cup finals already this year and is ranked ninth in the world, will meet Italy's Margeherita ZALAFFI in the other semifinal. This is the fourth Olympic fencing tournament for ZALAFFI, having competed in women's foil in each of the last three Olympic Games and earning a silver medal in Seoul in 1988 and a gold in Barcelona in 1992 in the team event.

Semifinal bouts: Valerie BARLOIS (FRA) vs. Margherita ZALAFFI (ITA) and Laura FLESSEL

(FRA) vs. Gyoengyi SZALAY HORVATHNE (HUN).


Men's Individual Sabre Preliminaries

World champion Kiriyenko ousted: World champion and top-seeded Grigoriv KIRIYENKO of Russia suffered a shocking third-round upset in the men's individual sabre competition at the Centennial Olympic Games on Sunday. KIRIYENKO dropped a close (15-13) decision to Poland's Rafal ZNAJDER and failed to reach the final. KIRIYENKO's loss has opened the door for countryman Stanislav POZDNYAKOV, the number two seed and a member of the Unified Team which won the team sabre gold in Barcelona in 1992, to win Russia's first individual sabre gold since Viktor KROVOPUSKOV repeated in 1976 and 1980. POZDNYAKOV won three preliminary bouts, including a victory over Vadym GUTTSAYT of the Ukraine in the quarterfinals. POZDNYAKOV's semifinal opponent is third-seeded Jozsef NAVARETTE of Hungary. NAVARETTE beat 1995 World Champion Felix BECKER of Germany in the quarterfinals. Frenchmen Damien TOUYA, last year's World Junior Champion, earned his spot in the semifinals by beating countryman Jean DAURELLE in the third round and SZNAJDER in the quarterfinals. Sergey SHARIKOV of the Russian Federation avenged last year's World Championship loss to German Steffan WIESINGER by beating him to reach the medal round. Semifinal bouts: Damien Toya (FRA) vs. Sergey SHARIKOV (RUS) and Josef NAVARETTE (HUN) vs. Stanislav POZDNYAKOV (RUS).


Men's Individual Sabre Final

Russian Pozdnyakov captures gold over countryman: At the tender age of just 22, Russian fencer Stanislav POZDNYAKOV is now 2-for-2 in sabre competition at the Olympic Games. Four years ago, POZDNYAKOV was part of the Unified Team which captured the gold medal in the team event. On Sunday, POZDNYAKOV added an individual title, beating countryman Sergey SHARIKOV, 15-13, to win the individual sabre title at the Centennial Olympic Games. He is the first Russian to win an individual sabre gold since Viktor Krovopuskov captured back-to-back Olympic titles in 1976 and 1980. The winner of 12 World Cup titles since 1994, POZDNYAKOV more than atoned for a fifth-place showing at the 1995 World Championships as he cruised through five bouts with relative ease, beating Hungarian Josef NAZARETTE in the semifinals. The bronze medal went to 21-year-old Damien TOUYA of France, the 1995 Junior World Champion, who defeated NAVARETTE 15-7 for third place. Gold: Stanislav POZDNYAKOV (RUS); Silver: Sergey SHARIKOV (RUS); Bronze: Damien TOUYA (FRA).

See story.


Women's Individual Epee Final

Flessel wins all-French battle for first epee gold: Laura FLESSEL secured a permanent place in Olympic history on Sunday by becoming the winner of the inuaguaral women's epee competition at the Olympic Games. The 24-year-old Parisian defeated countrywoman Valerie BARLOIS, 15-12, in the gold medal bout to become France's second female gold medalist of the day. FLESSEL, who is currently ranked third in the world, won a tense, back and forth battle with second-ranked Gyoengyi SZALAY HORVATHNE of Hungary in the semifinals . Gold: Laura FLESSEL (FRA); Silver: Valerie BARLOIS (FRA); Bronze: Gyoengyi SZALAY HORVATHNE (HUN).

``There is no such thing as friends at the Olympic Games -- there is only an opponent you have to defeat,'' said Laura FLESSEL after defeating countrywoman Valerie BARLOIS for the first ever women's individual epee gold medal.


This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.


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Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park.