Fencing at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's foil

This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1908 (when there was a foil display only rather than a medal event). Four of the eight quarterfinalists from 1992 returned: gold medalist Philippe Omnès of France, silver medalist Serhiy Holubytskiy of the Unified Team (now competing for Ukraine), bronze medalist Elvis Gregory of Cuba, and fifth-place finisher Joachim Wendt of Austria. The three world champions since the last Games were Alexander Koch of Germany, Rolando Tucker of Cuba, and Dmitriy Shevchenko of Russia; all were competing in Atlanta.^[2]

Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the men's foil. France and the United States each made their 20th appearance, tied for most of any nation; France had missed only the 1904 (with fencers not traveling to St. Louis) and the 1912 (boycotted due to a dispute over rules) foil competitions, while the United States had missed the inaugural 1896 competition and boycotted the 1980 Games altogether.

The 1996 tournament vastly simplified the competition format after a horrendously complex system used in the previous Games in Barcelona. Pool play was eliminated. Double elimination was eliminated. The tournament became a simple single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match. Bouts were to 15 touches. Standard foil rules regarding target area, striking, and priority were used.^[2][3]

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)