With 24 days until the Opening Ceremony in Rio, we’ll look back at the 1924 Games, when the fencing competition morphed into something much more sinister.
The Olympics aren’t exactly immune to controversy, but this little bit of infamy takes it to a whole new level.
After four Italians were drawn against each other in the individual men’s sabre in Paris, their top fencer, Oreste Puliti, emerged after comfortably defeating his countrymen. However, the Jury of Appeal ruled the other three had tanked their matches to allow Puliti an easier path to the gold.
That hardly sat well with Puliti, who threatened to cane lead judge György Kovács. Kovács and the jury responded by having Puliti disqualified.
After the event had been decided – Sandor Posta of Hungary claimed gold – Puliti saw Kovács and unleashed another tongue-lashing at the judge. After Kovács tried to end the situation by claiming he couldn’t understand Italian, Puliti punched him in the face, saying perhaps he understood that.
A duel was the only natural way to settle the feud.
A couple of months later that duel ensued and, after an hour of combat, Puliti and Kovács were separated by spectators who were worried about the number of wounds both had suffered.
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Finally coming to their senses – a series of potentially fatal cuts would have that effect – both men shook hands to put the matter to bed.
Puliti was subsequently barred from Olympic competition, although the ban was later overturned and the Italian won two team medals – a gold and a silver – at the following Games.
Be sure to follow The Roar as we look back on some of the most memorable moments in Olympic history – be they weird and wacky or brilliant and significant – and count down the days until the Rio Olympics opening ceremony.