Every sport has its own tournaments, a system which works for most athletes. Soccer has the World Cup and the UEFA Champions League, while the NFL culminates with the Super Bowl. Tennis has grand slams and golf has its own majors. Every sport, it appears, has some major tournaments which count as the most important tournaments for that sport.
Fencing also has its own large tournaments. Here they are, ranked in no special way, but each with a history of its own.
The Olympic Games
This is by far one of the most important tournaments for fencing. While people enjoy competing in their own sport’s majors, this tournament puts their entire country in the limelight. Most athletes tend to be patriots in a way and they frequently want to win medals for themselves, but also for their countries.
Fencing has been present at the Olympics since the very beginning, in 1896, and has always been contested. Not all three forms were there all the time but they were since 1912. Nowadays, fencing has precise scoring gear and is contested in single and team variants for both men and women.
World Fencing Championships
This began unofficially in 1921, but was named differently, the International Fencing Championships, and was a European-only tournament.
What sparked the change was Benito Mussolini, or rather, the Italian government at the time, in 1936. Winners of the Olympics and world tournaments would get privileges. Italy petitioned the FIE (governing body of fencing), to rename the European Championships to World Championships. They did so in 1937 and previous champions were retroactively awarded world titles.
Nowadays, the tournament is held annually and is still the single most important tournament in fencing in the world. Men and women compete, in the epee, foil and sabre styles, team or individual. There was friction with the Olympics from 2004 until 2016, due to women’s sabre events. It was resolved and since 2020, World Championships are not held the same year as the Olympics.
Zone Championships and Grand Prix
Fencing has plenty of other tournaments, the Zone Championships and Grand Prix come to mind. There are multiple of each and are very important for the fencing season. The season culminates after all the tournaments have been completed and the athletes have gathered as many points as they can.
Among the many tournaments that athletes can contest, the Zone Championships and Grand Prix tournaments are the ones that they value the most. Either of the two types of tournaments can award a fencer lots of points and prestige, as they are contested by international stars, the same people who would be at the Olympics.
Fencing World Cup
This tournament is not the same as the World Championships, but it is an important tournament. Held annually since 1972, it is a tournament which puts the top fencers against each other, taking in mind all the points gathered at the largest tournaments, the World Championships, The Olympics, Zonal, Grand Prix and even Satellite tournaments (smaller tournaments).
16 top players are automatically selected due to points. Other players have to qualify and they are placed in a 64 ladder. Direct elimination matches are held, with three periods of three minutes with one minute rest in between.
Fencing has a lot of tournaments held all the time. Not all of them are large and grand but these ones are among the most important ones.
