What fencing is: one piste, three weapons, three sets of conventions.

Who governs it

The FIE (Federation Internationale d'Escrime) says it was founded in Paris in 1913, is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is recognised by the IOC as fencing's world governing body. It also says fencing has been an Olympic sport since 1896, and Olympedia records it at every modern Summer Games since Athens that year. The FIE's rules come in books: the Technical Rules (Book 1), the Organisation Rules (Book 2) and the Material Rules (Book 3). The Technical Rules are laid out as general rules common to all three weapons, then a separate block of conventions for foil, for epee and for sabre, then the disciplinary rules (Technical Rules, December 2024, contents).

The FIE's Organisation Rules (August 2026, o.9) tell competitions apart by four things: the weapon, the competitors' sex, their age, and whether the event is individual or team. A men's foil event and a women's epee event are separate competitions.

The three weapons side by side

Each column below is one weapon. The rules for one never apply to another unless the rule book says so.

Each weapon has its own page: foil, epee and sabre. The equipment differences are covered in foil, epee and sabre compared.

Rules all three weapons share

The piste and the apparatus

Competitions at all three weapons are fenced on the same pistes (t.17.2). Every competition is judged with an electrical recording apparatus, and the referee may not award a hit unless the apparatus has properly registered it. The two exceptions are a penalty hit and the foil case where a fencer substitutes another body part for the target (t.54.1, t.54.2 and t.79). The piste's size and lines are on the piste page.

One hand, and only the weapon

At all three weapons defensive actions may be made only with the weapon, and the weapon is held in one hand. A fencer may not change hands before the end of the bout, except with the referee's permission after an injury to the hand or arm (t.21.1 and t.21.4).

The salute

The rules describe the salute as a gesture of civility toward the opponent, the referee and the spectators, made before and after each bout. Refusing it is a 4th-group offence (t.1 and t.122); the rules sort offences into four groups with escalating penalties (t.164 to t.170). The FIE Congress of 22 November 2025 extended the salute rule in t.122 to the end of the 2025-2026 season, as an urgent decision (read from the decisions document's tracked changes; a clean 2026 edition of the Technical Rules could not be opened). No later rule text was read, so whether the rule applies beyond that season is not confirmed here.

Responsibility and risk

The Technical Rules state that fencers arm, equip and clothe themselves and fence at their own responsibility and risk, and that the safety measures in the rules are meant to reinforce safety but cannot guarantee it (t.20). Fencers must keep the mask on until the referee calls "Halt!" (t.125). Safety research and rules are covered in the safety section.

The rule book's own vocabulary

The Technical Rules define "fencing time" as the time needed to carry out one simple fencing action. They name three offensive actions, the attack, the riposte and the counter-riposte, and one defensive action, the parry (t.7 to t.9). "Point in line" is a position with the sword arm straight and the point continuously threatening the opponent's valid target, and it matters for priority at foil and sabre (t.15). The rules add that their list of terms is there to help readers follow the rules and does not replace a treatise on fencing.

Where the sport comes from

Olympedia dates the earliest known depiction of a bout to a relief at Medinet Habu, near Luxor, of about 1190 BCE, and says fencing as a sport began in the 14th or 15th century. Where it began is disputed: Olympedia notes that both Italy and Germany claim the origins of the sport, while British Fencing's history, by Malcolm Fare, dates modern fencing to the late 15th century, when civilians began to carry swords. The full story is in the history section.

Wheelchair fencing

Wheelchair fencing uses the same three weapons with the chairs fixed in a frame on the piste (IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Technical Rules, January 2018, t.13). Its targets are not all the same as standing fencing: in wheelchair epee the target is the upper body above the line of the tops of the hip bones, plus any part of the wheelchair above that line (t.62). It has its own page, wheelchair fencing.