{mosimage}Based on the results from the final Team World Cup held 2/21 in Eislingen, Germany, the United States was able to claim a spot in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
The United States team finished 12th at the event, the result didn’t impact the standings. The closest team in the US zone was Canada, which had no chance to catch up to the US so they didn’t send a team to participate.
The Italian team won the event, and earned the European zonal spot at the games. Germany, which placed second, won’t get to go.
European teams comprise 8 of the top 10 teams in the world. 5 of them will be competing in Athens. The other 3 spots in the tournament will go to the top country in the American, African, and Asian zones.
The following table shows the qualifying teams, their qualification path, and their world ranking as of February 25, 2004.
Qualification | Country | World Ranking | Points | |
| 1 – #1 World Rank | Russia | 1 | 320 | |
| 2 – #2 World Rank | Hungary | 2 | 236 | |
| 3 – #3 World Rank | France | 3 | 224 | |
| 4 – #4 World Rank | Ukraine | 4 | 224 | |
| 5 – Zone: Europe | Italy | 5 | 212 | |
| 6 – Zone: Asia | China | 7 | 162 | |
| 7 – Zone: Americas | United State | 9 | 136 | |
| 8 – Zone: Africa | Egypt | 16 | 74 |
The team event is limited to 8 teams and the individual event to 36 fencers. The 24 fencers from the team event will compete. The remaining 12 are determined by the Adjusted World Rankings as well as zonal qualifying tournaments.
The Adjusted World Rankings will change between now and March 31st, but here are the fencers that would qualify today for the individual allotments from each zone. Europe, Asia, and the Americas get 2 slots and Africa one. No one country can use more than one of the qualifying slots.
Qualification | Name | Country | World Rank | Points |
| 1: Zone EU | Covaliu, Mihal | ROM | 3 | 190 |
| 2: Zone EU | Medina, Fernando | ESP | 8 | 134 |
| 3: Zone AS | Oh, Eun Suk | KOR | 22 | 60 |
| 4: Zone AM | Boulos, Michel | CAN | 26 | 51 |
| 5: Zone AS | Kothny, Wiradech | THA | 27 | 49 |
| 6: Zone AM | Maya Camejo, Candido | CUB | 64 | 18 |
| 7: Zone AF | Rebai, Mohamed | TUN | 102 | 8 |
The final 5 slots will be determined by zonal qualifying tournaments. The final slots are also divided by region with 2 from Europe and 1 from Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
After each upcoming individual world cup event, we’ll take a look at how the results impact the standings. The final individual world cup for qualification will be March 27-28 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
