Filippo Macchi won the silver medal in the men’s individual foil tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Italian was defeated by Hong Kong athlete Ka Long Cheung 15-14: it is the first Italian medal in France for foil, second for fencing after the one won by Luigi Samele in sabre (bronze). And it is the eighth medal for the Italians in these Olympics.
In the semifinals, Macchi defeated the American Nick Itkim 15-11, while in the quarterfinals he got rid of the Egyptian Mohamed Hamza 15-9. “These are years and years of work and bitter pills, of training where my body couldn’t take it anymore. Now I’m in an Olympic final – the Italian told Raisport microphones once he had won the final – and I want to stay on that platform as long as possible”.
The Italian Fencing Federation is not having it and – according to what has been learned – will present a formal appeal, through its president Paolo Azzi, with the support of CONI and president Giovanni Malagò, to the International Federation and the IOC for the outcome of the men’s foil final. The FIS, in particular, disputes the attribution of the last and decisive thrust that awarded Cheung for the final 15-14. Azzi commented: “I have never seen anything like it. Filippo Macchi is the real winner and he was denied a gold that he deserved”.
Foil coach Stefano Cerioni was furious: “A mistake can happen, but three mistakes out of three are really too many. I don’t want to think of bad faith, maybe they’re nervous too, if not incompetent. Everyone I met told me it was incredible, including our opponents. What did I tell the referees? That they had stolen something, I told them “you decided who should win the Olympics”. Filippo shot wonderfully, the Olympic champion didn’t need this help. He’s in terrible shape, for me the Olympics were won by Macchi. Yes, the moral winner is Filippo, in my opinion on the first two hits (three contested, on the first two the judges didn’t make a decision, ed.) there wasn’t even a doubt. We don’t understand the reason for the abstentions”.