Leading 12-7 late in the third period of the women’s individual foil gold medal bout, Russia’s Inna Deriglazova appeared to be well on her way to a first Olympic gold.
But things got far too close for comfort for Deriglazova, as Italy’s Elisa Di Francisca mounted a furious rally to pull within a single point. Luckily for Deriglazova the rally began too late, as she managed to hang on to win by the final score of 12-11. With Di Francisca’s score to pull within one point coming with just over two seconds left in the bout, Deriglazova was able to avoid another attack as time ran out.
Di Francisca, who won gold in this event (and the team foil) in London four years ago, will have to settle for silver this time around. As for Deriglazova, her gold medal is Russia’s first in this event. Ines Boubakri of Tunisia took bronze, winning her nation’s first-ever Olympic fencing medal.
Americans Lee Kiefer and Nzingha Prescod finished in tenth and 11 place, respectively.