Japanese Fencers Score Golden Finish at Paris Olympics

By Tsukasa Sano / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

16:41 JST, August 5, 2024

PARIS —Japanese fencers made great strides at the Paris Olympics, ending their events with a gold medal in the men’s team foil. Japan has achieved the remarkable feat of snaring five fencing medals at the current Games, second only to France.

Among the three swords used in fencing, the foil is the most popular event in Japan. Its men’s foil team is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, but their best result before Paris was a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

“All of us were determined to surpass the London silver. We never wavered in our single-minded focus,” said Kyosuke Matsuyama, the captain of the men’s foil team.

Matsuyama has been captain for eight years, since the age of 19. He succeeded Yuki Ota, who won a silver medal in the individual foil event at the 2008 Beijing Games and in the team event in London.

The greatest ambition of his successors, including Matsuyama, was to inherit the legacy left by Ota, stand shoulder to shoulder with him and surpass him.

Matsuyama was also captain of the foil team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but they finished in fourth place. Japan’s first gold medal in fencing, a long-cherished wish of this nation’s fencing society, was won by the men’s epee team at that Games.

Matsuyama said this redoubled his determination regarding the Paris Olympics.

Matsuyama honed his steps and footwork with Erwann Le Pechoux, who took over as the team’s coach after the Tokyo Games. As a result, he won bronze in the individual event and gold in the team event at last year’s World Championships, becoming the ace of the team bound for Paris.

In the final, Matsuyama led his team’s offensive by scoring points with skillful footwork. He gave advice to Kazuki Iimura, just 20 years old, and Yudai Nagano, who only appeared in the final, and sent them onto the piste. While his teammates were competing, he cheered until he was hoarse.

“The captain’s hard work was rewarded with this wonderful result,” said Ota, who was watching at the venue.

Matsuyama said that as his epee and sabre colleagues continued their success, “I felt that we couldn’t go back to Japan unless we won a medal too.”

There was no need to worry — Matsuyama’s team won the only gold among the Japanese fencing teams.

Japan left a strong impression on the audience in France, the traditional home of fencing.