Hungary’s Szilagyi lands fencing gold
Hungary’s incredible Olympic record in men’s sabre fencing was extended at the ExCeL last night as 22-year-old Aron Szilagyi grabbed their first gold of the London Games.
It was the 13th time a Hungarian had triumphed in the event – and that includes an amazing run of 11 out of 12 victories between 1908 and 1964.
Szilagyi is their only fencer in the world’s top 50 – he is ranked sixth – was their only representative in the 36-strong field and was also one of the youngest taking part, but after four earlier wins he easily beat Italian Diego Occhiuzzi 15-8 in the final.
Bronze went to Russian Nikolay Kovalev, who had beaten German world no. 1 Nicolas Limbach in the last eight.
Kovalev beat Romanian Rares Dumitrescu to claim third place.
Medals table
| Country | G | S | B | Tot. |
| China | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| United States | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| Italy | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| South Korea | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| France | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| North Korea | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Kazakhstan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Australia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Brazil | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Hungary | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Russia | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| South Africa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Japan | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Colombia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Cuba | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Romania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Taipei | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Azerbaijan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Moldova | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Norway | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Serbia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Slovakia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Today’s highlights
• Swimmer Michael Phelps looks to defend his 200m butterfly title, an event in which he has held the world record for a decade (heats 11.30 a.m.; finals 8.30 p.m.).
• Great Britain and Argentina clash in the men’s field hockey, after recent tensions between the two nations on the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war (8 p.m.).
• British diver Tom Daley looks to honour the memory of his father who died of cancer in May as he and team-mate Pete Waterfield go for gold in the 10m synchronised event (starts 4 p.m.).
Results
Waterpolo (Men)
Greece vs Croatia 6-8; Kazakhstan vs Spain 6-14; Italy vs Australia 8-5; Hungary vs Serbia 10-14; Romania vs Great Britain 13-4; Montenegro vs USA 7-8.
Volleyball (Men)
Great Britain vs Bulgaria 0-3; Russia vs Germany 3-0; Australia vs Argentina 0-3; USA vs Serbia 3-0; Poland vs Italy 3-1.
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Cat Kipling
Jul 30th 2012, 11:56
I have just read some details about the youngest male gold medalists of history: There is speculation that a young boy from Paris was coxswain in the winning Dutch pair oars boat in the 1900 rowing event. Before they raced in the Final, their regular coxswain H. Brockmann was determined to be too heavy at 60kg, so he was replaced by this boy. The boy's name nor age has ever been determined. Only a photograph exists, showing him with his two oarsmen, he may have been as young as seven. It is not sure which of the coxswain was given the Gold medal :-)
The youngest confirmed male gold medalist is the German K. Zerta who was 13 years when he competed as the coxain in the Men's Coxed Pairs, in 1960. The youngest male gold medalist in an individual event was K. Kitamura of Japan, who won the 1500-m Freestyle swimming event in 1952 aged 14 yrs.
Sabre fencing: Hungarian sports commentator moved to tears last night, shouting “Áron Szilágyi is just 22!” ... Well, he is the youngest gold medalist in this event since 1896.
Please choose the reason of your report below: