France’s Cannone crowned men’s epee champion, Kiefer wins historic foil gold for U.S
TOKYO, July 25– Romain Cannone won the first gold medal for France at Tokyo 2020 with victory in the men’s individual epee, while Lee Kiefer became the first ever U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold in the individual foil here on Sunday. It was France’s 39th gold medal in a men’s event in fencing, surpassing Italy for the most medals won. “It means a lot because I didn’t start…
TOKYO, July 25 (Xinhua) — Romain Cannone won the first gold medal for France at Tokyo 2020 with victory in the men’s individual epee, while Lee Kiefer became the first ever U.S. woman to win an Olympic gold in the individual foil here on Sunday.
The 23rd-seeded Cannone shocked the world No.1 Gergely Siklosi 15-10 in the final. It was France’s 39th gold medal in a men’s event in fencing, surpassing Italy (38) for the most medals won.
“It means a lot because I didn’t start in France, I started in the U.S., and France has a long history of champions. We have a real know-how of fencing. And they really taught me the French fencing,” said Cannone.
The fencers started out trading points. Cannone took a 10-8 lead midway through the second period and extended the lead to 12-8, where Siklosi never recovered from.
“I managed to come back and get the lead, but he was so confident, he trusted his action and he beat really good fencers from the beginning of the day. I hope I can do better next time,” Siklosi said.
Siklosi eliminated defending champion Park Sang-young of South Korea en route to the final, but he failed to become the third fencer to win Olympic men’s epee individual title as reigning world champion.
Ukraine’s Igor Reizlin beat Andrea Santarelli 15-13 to win the bronze medal.
Kiefer, who is making her third Olympic appearance, was locked in a tight battle with reigning world champion Deriglazova which went right down to the wire, with both fencers trading points in a pulsating bout.
Deriglazova tied the score at 12-12 before Kiefer held her nerve to win 15-13.
“I had so much fun and to come out here and feel good about your fencing is really what all the athletes try to do and hope you have a medal at the end. I have everything thing, I’m on top of the world. This is the best day,” said Kiefer.
The bronze medal went to ROC’s Larisa Korobeynikova, who defeated Alice Volpi of Italy 15-14. Enditem