The fencing tournament took place at the [Stade d'Hiver] on the campus of University of Montreal with the same six events for men and two for women that had been contested since 1960.

For the second games in succession Europe swept up all the medals but this time there was greater parity between East and West. The Soviet Union were the most successful nation both in winning gold medals (3) and total medals (7) with West Germany the other nation to pick up more than one Olympic title. [Viktor Krovopuskov] of the USSR was the only double gold medallist of the Games.

[Thomas Bach], member of the victorious West German foil team, would later take a number of leading roles in the Olympic Movement, replacing [Jacques Rogge] as the President of the IOC in 2013.

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, eight events in fencing were contested. Men competed in both individual and team events for each of the three weapon types (épée, foil and sabre), but women competed only in foil events.

One of the gold medalists from West Germany team was Thomas Bach, who currently serves as President of the International Olympic Committee.

[Ecaterina Stahl] of Romania had been crowned World Champion in 1975 but the balance of power in women’s foil was still held by the USSR and Hungary who had shared every other World Championship medal since the last Olympics. After an excellent showing in the preliminary stages Stahl lost two matches in the elimination rounds and was dumped out of the tournament.

The women to make the most of Stahl’s exit were [Ildiko Schwarczenberger-Tordasi], a former World Champion, and a surprise packet in the shape of Italy’s [Maria Consolata Collino].

The two fencers tied with four wins out of five in the final pool then fought a desperately close tie-breaker which resulted in Schwarczenberger-Tordasi winning gold for Hungary on a sudden death hit. [Yelena Novikova-Belova] of the USSR added a bronze medal to her gold medal from 1968.

The women's foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1976 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twelfth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 23 to 24 July 1976. 48 fencers from 20 nations competed.

The position was clear by the start of the 1976 Olympic Games. The USSR, having won the last two World titles, were the strongest team in the world with Hungary and Romania clearly second and third in the pecking order. An early defeat to France cost Romania dearly as they found themselves drawn against the Soviets in the quarter-finals and exited the tournament. France turned into the story of the event and after eliminating Poland in the quarter-final they caused another shock by defeating Hungary on a tiebreaker in the semis. The fairy tale ending did not come to pass for the French women as the USSR proved a class apart in the final.

Hungary recovered from their disappointing loss against France to beat West Germany for bronze.

The women's team foil was one of eight fencing events on the fencing at the 1976 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 27 to 28 July 1976. 61 fencers from 13 nations competed.