Lucien Gaudin
France
Fencing
Overall Ranks
#1 among French Olympians
#1 among Fencers
Olympic Results
1920
Team Foil - Silver
1924
Team Foil - Gold
Team Epee - Gold
1928
Individual Foil - Gold
Team Foil - Silver
Individual Epee - Gold
Total
Events - 6
Gold - 4
Silver - 2
Lucien Alphonse Paul Gaudin was born September 27, 1886 in Arras, France, and studied fencing under two of the masters who had competed in the 1900 Olympics, and began competing internationally in 1904, but not in time for that year's Olympics. He was selected to compete in the 1908 Olympics in London, but ended up not competing.
He finally made his Olympic debut 12 years later in Antwerp, competing in the team foil event. He was a perfect 4-0 in his first round match against the Netherlands, which advanced France to the final pool. In that pool, he went 11-1, only losing a single bout against Italy, who would eventually win the gold medal, as they beat France 9-7 in their match, but Gaudin won a silver medal for his work.
He was expected to compete in the individual foil as well, but ended up sitting out, and the three medals ended up all being won by his French teammates. He returned to compete in 1924 in Paris, again starting with the team foil event. He was a perfect 12-0 in the early rounds, leading France back to the final pool. In the final pool, he was again perfect, going 10-0, but the ruling on his final point in a bout with Italy was somewhat controversial, and the Italian team walked out and forfeited the rest of the tournament, giving France an easy gold with their best opponent gone.
He again sat out the individual foil event, watching his teammates take gold and silver, instead preparing for the team epee event. He ended up only being used in the final pool, where he went 6-2 in his bouts, and helped France secure another team gold medal.
He was entered in 3 events in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, and this time he competed in all 3, starting with the team foil again. He was again perfect in leading France to the final pool, winning all 12 of his bouts. In the final pool, he went 7-1, including 3-1 against Italy, but his teammates each went 1-3 in that match, so they lost to their rivals 10-6, and ended up with the silver medal again, despite Gaudin's best efforts.
That was the year when Gaudin would finally compete in the individual foil event for the first time. As usual, he was perfect all the way to the final, winning all 12 of his bouts, putting him in the 12-man final pool as one of the favorites. In that pool, he went 9-2, which resulted in a 3-way tie for first, so the three each fenced each other again to break the tie. He beat Erwin Casmir of Germany easily in his first bout, then faced Giulio Gaudini of Italy. He fell behind 4-2 in that match, but then took 3 straight points, and with it, the gold medal.
He also competed in the individual epee event that year, which was not his specialty, but he had contributed to the team gold 4 years earlier. He went 24-4 on his way to the final pool, coming in first in his pool in all 3 rounds. In the final pool, he went 8-1, with his only loss coming in a tie against Leon Tom of Belgium, as ties were counted as losses for both fencers that year. That record was enough to win him the gold medal, making him the second and most recent man in history to win both the foil and epee in the same Olympics.
He retired the next year to focus on running his film company, which had produced the official Olympic film for the 1924 Paris games. The company ended up going bankrupt in 1934, and in his despair, Gaudin committed suicide. It's been nearly 100 years since he last competed, but no one else has matched his performance in 1928, and he never finished worse than second place in any Olympic event in his career, making him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
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