Fencing

About Fencing

At Olympic level, fencing is contested with three different weapons, foil, épée and sabre, each with its own rules on valid target areas and right of way, with bouts fought individually and in team formats for men and women.

Ireland has fielded fencers at the Olympics since London 1948, when the country sent its first team of five, including Dorothy Dermody, who became Ireland's first female Olympian in any sport. Michael O'Brien competed in the épée at Barcelona 1992 after a 20-year gap without an Irish fencer at the Games, and Siobhán Byrne became Ireland's next Olympic fencer when she qualified for Beijing 2008 in sabre, having missed out on Athens 2004 by the narrowest of margins.