Hungarian fencer upset, ends shot at fourth gold
An era-defining winning streak in Olympic fencing was snapped in an upset Saturday as Hungarian fencer Aron Szilagyi lost his opening bout while chasing a fourth consecutive gold medal.
Szilagyi won Olympic gold in men’s individual saber in 2012, 2016 and 2021 — the only male fencer to be a three-time individual champion. In Paris, he was trying to become the only fencer in Olympic history with four individual gold medals.
Instead, the streak ended in Szilagyi’s first bout of the Paris Games as he was beaten 15-8 by 27th-seeded Canadian Fares Arfa in the round of 32 for one of the biggest upsets at the 2024 Olympics. Arfa, a first-time Olympian, racked up six unanswered points to start the bout. Szilagyi closed the gap to 6-4 but couldn’t catch the Canadian.
“I’m in a bit of shock right now, so I’m not even disappointed or angry at myself yet. It happened so fast, and I’ve never thought that my individual competition here in Paris would be so short,” Szilagyi said.
“It’s really a shock. It’s like my opponent read me. I was an open book to him,” he added. “In every touch, what he wanted, it happened. All his parries worked, all his attacks landed.”
Szilagyi was on a run of 15 wins in individual saber competition at the Olympics and had not lost in the event since a defeat to Keeth Smart of the United States in the round of 16 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Arfa won team gold with Canada at last year’s Pan-American Games but hadn’t fenced at the Olympics before.
“It was like as if he’d been the three-time Olympic champion and I was some kind of first-time Olympian,” Szilagyi said.
A victory in Paris would have tied Szilagyi with some Olympic greats in winning the same event at four consecutive Games. The feat has been achieved by Carl Lewis in the long jump, Michael Phelps in the 200-meter individual medley, Mijain Lopez in super-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling, Paul Elvstroem in the heavyweight dinghy and Al Oerter in the discus.
Szilagyi’s early exit wasn’t the only big upset in fencing Saturday.
Last year’s men’s saber world champion Eli Dershwitz of the United States was beaten 15-10 by Hungarian Csanad Gemesi in the round of 32. Sun Yiwen, the defending Olympic champion in women’s epee, lost her opening bout 14-13 to Miho Yoshimura of Japan.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
