The German foil team won 3 of the last 4 team world cups of the season to secure the #1 world ranking and the top Olympic qualifying spot for the 2004 Games. Rounding out the top 4 teams are Italy, China, and Russia.
For the Men’s Foil event, 8 teams and 36 individuals get to compete. The 8 teams are chosen by the top 4 in the international standings and then the top team from each zone: Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The individuals are chosen by taking the 24 fencers that compete in the team event (3 for each country), and then choosing the next 7 fencers from the FIE individual rankings by zone (2 from Europe, 2 from Asia, 2 from Americas, and 1 from Africa.)
The remaining 5 individual slots are chosen at continental qualifying tournaments where each country not already represented may send one fencer to compete. The top 2 in the European competition as well as the winners of the African, Asian, and American competitions earn the continental berths.
Who’s in, who’s out?
Team
The top 4 teams make it to the Games. Those are:
1. Germany
2. Italy
3. China
4. Russia
The 5th-8th slots are chosen by the top team in each zone:
5. Europe: France
6. Asia: South Korea
7. Americas: United States
8. Africa: Egypt
Individual
In Men’s Foil, the first 24 are chosen by the national federations of the countries entered in the events. The US Men’s Foil team will be chosen at the US National Championships held on April 23rd. The 7 Zonal individual slots have been awarded to:
Name | Country | Zone | World Rank |
| Joao Gomez | POR | Europe | 7 |
| Cedric Gohy | BEL | Europe | 9 |
| Yuki Ota | JPN | Asia | 29 |
| Joshua McGuire | CAN | Americas | 45 |
| Frank Bartotillo | AUS | Asia | 54 |
| Edgar Chumacero | MEX | Americas | 60 |
| Maher Ben Aziza | TUN | Africa | 138 |
The last 5 slots will be determined in April at the continental qualifying tournaments with those names published on or about June 1st 2004.