Evidence exists that there was competition, as opposed to fighting and duelling, with swords in Egypt in about 1200 BC. About 500 years ago the French, Germans, Italians and Spaniards started having input into the development of the sport of fencing. A major breakthrough came in the late 1700s with the development of the mask which was obviously a boon to the protection of the eyes. Until then it was often observed that the hope of fencing masters was to retire with both eyes intact.

Fencing has evolved from an ancient form of combat to one of the most technical and tactical sports of the Olympic Games. It is one of only five sports to continually feature at the Olympics since Athens in 1896 – the others being athletics, swimming, cycling and gymnastics.

Competitive fencing as a sport flourished in Europe in the latter part of the 19th century and as a result, it was included on the programme of the first modern Olympics. An interesting aside is that there were events for professionals in the early Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin, the champion of amateur sport, made a concession for professors of military fencing. The professional events had disappeared by London 1908.

The Hungarian Aladar Gerevich is the only athlete in any sport to win the same Olympic event six times. Gerevich was a member of the champion sabre team in each of the Olympics from Los Angeles in 1932 until Rome in 1960.  Had not two stagings of the Olympics been cancelled during World War II, Gerevich might very well have won the same event a staggering eight times!

Foil, epée and sabre are the three weapons used in the sport of Fencing, in which both men and women compete. The target areas, as well as the blade, differ for the three weapons.

The fencer tries to score the total hits needed to win, while at the same time trying to avoid being hit by the opponent. Fencers are connected to an electronic scoring system that indicates if a hit has occurred.

Each competition has a single-elimination format. Teams consist of three fencers, and each fences against each member of the opposing team. Bouts are held on a 14 metre by 1.5 metre piste, or platform.

For the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing there have been several fencing event changes. The men's team foli event has been dropped and the women's foil and sabre team events replace the team epée. 

Australia has not yet won a fencing medal at the Olympics. The best-placed performer has been Greg Benko, who finished 6th in the individual foil in Montreal in 1976. More recently, the men's epée team placed eighth in Sydney in 2000 and Evelyn Halls finished 12th in women's epée in Athens in 2004.  Ivan Lund, a four-time Olympic fencer, carried the Australian flag at the Opening Ceremony in Tokyo in 1964.

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