In a matchup of “youth vs. experience” in the men’s individual épée gold medal match youth won out, and in the process a South Korean fencer won his nation’s first-ever gold in épée.
Park Sangyoung defeated Hungary’s Geza Imre by the final score of 15-14, doing so by pulling off a wild comeback. Facing a deficit of 14-10, Park scored the final five points of the match to win South Korea’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in épée. That achievement encompasses both men’s and women’s épée, individual and team. At just 20 years of age Park was the youngest competitor in the competition, with the 41-year old Imre being its oldest.
Imre, a bronze medalist in 1996, is a five-time Olympian who won the world championship in this event last year.
Gauthier Grumier of France took the bronze with a 15-11 win over Benjamin Steffen of Switzerland in the bronze medal match, becoming the first Frenchman to medal in this event since Fabrice Jeannet in 2008. American Jason Pryor finished in 22nd place.