Canadian fencer Fares Arfa stuns three-time reigning Olympic champ

An era-defining winning streak in Olympic fencing was snapped in a shock upset Saturday as Hungarian fencer Aron Szilagyi lost his opening bout while chasing a fourth consecutive gold medal.

Szilagyi won Olympic gold in men’s individual saber in 2012, 2016 and 2021 — the only male fencer to be a three-time individual champion. In Paris, he was trying to become the only fencer in Olympic history with four individual gold medals.

Instead, the streak ended in Szilagyi’s first bout of the Paris Games as he was beaten 15-8 by the 27th-seeded Canadian Fares Arfa in the round of 32 for one of the biggest upsets so far at the 2024 Olympics. Arfa, a first-time Olympian, racked up six unanswered points to start the bout. Szilagyi closed the gap to 6-4 but couldn’t catch the Canadian.

“I’m in a bit of shock right now, so I’m not even disappointed or angry at myself yet. It happened so fast, and I’ve never thought that my individual competition here in Paris would be so short,” Szilagyi said.

“It’s really a shock. It’s like my opponent read me. I was an open book to him,” he added. “In every touch, what he wanted, it happened. All his parries worked, all his attacks landed.”

Szilagyi was on a run of 15 wins in individual saber competition at the Olympics and had not lost in that event since a defeat to Keeth Smart of the United States in the round of 16 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Arfa won team gold with Canada at last year’s Pan-American Games but hadn’t fenced at the Olympics before.

“It was like as if he’d been the three-time Olympic champion, and I was some kind of first-time Olympian,” Szilagyi added.

“It feels good,” Arfa said after his win over Szilagyi, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “I came prepared, I came ready to go. I didn’t look at his name, closed my eyes. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of me, it’s a fight first and foremost against myself. If I stay disciplined, follow the game plan, everything’s going to work out and it did.”

Arfa then advanced to the quarterfinals with a 15-8 win over Bolade Apithy of France before ending his Olympic run with a narrow 15-13 loss to former world champion Oh Sang-uk of South Korea.

Canada has never won a medal in Olympic fencing.

The 29-year-old Arfa, from Laval, Que., won a bronze medal in individual competition at the Pan American Games last year. He was 55th in sabre at the world championships and was ranked 27th in the 32-man Olympic field.