The South Korean men’s sabre team headed into the Paris Olympics as, technically, the two-time defending champions (London 2012 and Tokyo 2020, as the team sabre event was not held in Rio 2016). But for all their accolades in the team event, individual results were here and there. Kim Jung-hwan has two individual Olympic bronze medals from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, but he did not compete in Paris. Gu Bon-gil, nearing the end of his amazing career, sadly bowed out of the Round of 32 in Paris, and teammate Park Sang-won exited in the next round. That left Oh who, of the three South Korean entrants, had the most potential of medaling in an individual Olympic event. Ranked No. 4 in the world at the time of the Paris Olympics – as of June 22, 2025, he is back up to No. 1 – Oh, like his coach Won Woo-young (2010) and Kim (2018), was a former individual world champion (2019).
The question as to whether South Korea could produce an individual Olympic gold medalist was answered on the first day of fencing competition. Three-time defending Olympic champion Áron Szilágyi of Hungary was upset in the first round, and reigning world champion Eli Dershwitz bowed out in the next. That paved the way for Oh, who had a fistful of match points at 14-5 against his Tunisian opponent Fares Ferjani. When Oh finally prevailed, 15-11, he leapt into his coach’s arms. Luigi Samele of Italy, who lost to Oh in the semifinals, won the bronze and became a four-time Olympic medalist (team bronze in London 2012, team silver and individual silver in Tokyo 2020).
Photos: Men’s fencing individual sabre gold event, Grand Palais, Paris
all photos by Meniscus Magazine
