The men's team foil was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held from 30 July 1948 to 31 July 1948. 82 fencers from 16 nations competed.[1]
The competition format continued the pool play round-robin from prior years. Each of the four fencers from one team would face each of the four from the other, for a total of 16 bouts per match. The team that won more bouts won the match, with competition potentially stopping when one team reached 9 points out of the possible 16 (this did not always occur and matches sometimes continued). If the bouts were 8–8, touches received was used to determine the winning team. Pool matches unnecessary to the result were not played.[2]
Denmark and Great Britain each beat the Netherlands; the two victorious teams advanced without playing each other. The match between Great Britain and the Netherlands was decided by hits against, with Great Britain winning 58 to 63.
The top two teams in each pool advanced to round 2.[3]
Pool 1
France and the United States each won their bouts against Canada without losing a single bout; the two victorious teams advanced without playing each other.
This was the only preliminary round pool to require the full set of three matches to be played. Belgium defeated Great Britain, 12–4. Great Britain defeated Denmark, 10–6. Belgium then beat Denmark, 9–3, to eliminate the Danes and secure advancement for the Belgians and British.
Hungary and Egypt each won their bouts against Uruguay; the two victorious teams advanced without playing each other. The match between Hungary and Uruguay was decided by hits against; Hungary won, 60–66.
The top two teams in each pool advanced to the final.[4]
Semifinal 1
In the first pairings, Italy defeated Argentina 11–5 while Belgium beat Hungary 10–6. In the second round of matches, the same teams won—this time, Italy over Hungary 9–2 while Argentina withdrew after the first bout went to Belgium.
France won its two bouts, 13–3 over Egypt and 10–6 over Great Britain. Great Britain had its second 8–8 match of the tournament, this time losing on hits against to the United States, 60–64.The United States also beat Egypt, 9–5, to advance along with France.
France (11–5 over the United States) and Italy (11–5 over Belgium) started off with wins. They swapped opponents in the second set of bouts and each won again (France 9–5 over Belgium and Italy 9–2 over the United States). That set up the Belgium–United States match as a de facto bronze medal match and the France-Italy match as the gold medal match. The Belgians defeated the Americans 9–7 to earn bronze. The France vs. Italy match resulted in 8 bouts won apiece. France prevailed on hits against, 60–62.
