Japan secured its second fencing gold medal of the Paris Olympics by defeating Italy 45-36 in the final of the men’s team foil on Sunday.
Japan’s alternate, Yudai Nagano, stepped in for the eighth leg and gave his team a strong lead with a 5-0 win over Italy’s substitute fencer, Alessio Foconi.
This left Kazuki Iimura with a 40-32 lead to finish the match in the last leg. This victory marked Japan’s fifth fencing medal of the Paris Games and its second gold.
The final bout was a thrilling contest before a full house at the Grand Palais, a large hall built in 1900 that has been popular with both spectators and fencers.
The crowd was quieter for this final, compared to their loud cheers earlier when France came back from a five-point deficit to beat the United States 45-32 for the bronze medal, marking the host nation’s seventh fencing medal of the Paris Games.
Despite a strong performance in fencing during the Olympics, the U.S. team ended on a low note, even with support from rapper-turned-NBC correspondent Snoop Dogg, who met the Americans after their 45-35 quarterfinal win over Egypt.
The U.S. won four fencing medals in Paris, up from two in Tokyo in 2021. The Paris medals included a first-ever team gold, Lee Kiefer’s individual women’s foil win in an all-U.S. final, and Kiefer became the first American fencer to win three career gold medals.
However, the U.S. saber events were overshadowed by an ongoing investigation into possible match-fixing or manipulation.
After legal challenges to Olympic team selection, USA Fencing expressed concern about the “emotional strain” on the fencers, none of whom have been accused of personally manipulating any matches.
