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  Fencing originated from epée fights and became a sport in the fifteenth century, when duels were bloody and occasionally fatal

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  It is one of the longest-running sports in the Olympics, and has featured in the programme since the Athens 1896 Games, the first of the Modern Olympic Era

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  At Tokyo 1964, Hungary’s Ildiko Ujlaki-Rejto won two gold medals, a feat all the more remarkable because she was born deaf and learned to fence by reading instructions

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  At the London 2012, Venezuelan Rubén Limardo won South America’s first fencing gold, and was rewarded with a replica of Simon Bolivar’s epée

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  Italian Nedo Nadi is the only fencer in over 100 years of Olympic history to win gold in all three disciplines at the same Games, in Antwerp in 1920

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  Hungary’s Aladár Gerevich is the record-holder for Olympic fencing gold medals, winning seven between 1932 and 1960

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  Fencing was one of the sports practised by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the Modern Era of the Olympic Games

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  Before the electronic scoring system was introduced, predominantly white clothing, still a feature of Olympic fencing, was used to confirm when points were landed

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  Fencers must greet each other before every bout, and a failure to do so can lead to disqualification