Team gold for France

On their way to the final, the Americans eliminated world champions Hungary and European champions Russia on the back of inspiring come-from-behind performances by Keeth Smart.

Smart won two bouts and tied a third in the final but did not receive much help from his team mates against a French team featuring Nicolas Lopez, the silver medallist in the individual event in Beijing.

In the bronze medal match, Athens individual champion Aldo Montano came back from 44-42 down in the last bout against world champion Stanislav Pozdnyakov to give Italy a 45-44 victory over Russia.