10) Gabor Boczko – Boczko represents a few fencers by taking this semi-honorable, semi-insulting tenth position. He’s here for all the guys who’ve been able to dominate a season, or two, or more, but have never been able to pull the trigger in the big events. I could easily replace him with Christoph Marik, Alfredo Rota, or Joerg Fiedler but Boczko’s consistently high rank and his match with Abajo in the 2008 Olympics really epitomize what this spot on the ranking is about. The bronze medal match in Beijing represented Boczko’s best chance to medal at a major competition - one win away from a medal and his opponent was a man he had absolutely dominated the last two times they’d fenced. However, the match went into overtime and Boczko predictably lost.
9) Krisztian Kulcsar – Kulcsar’s was a triumphant comeback story. After quitting fencing following the Hungarian team’s silver medal in Athens, Kulcsar was able to come back to the sport and win five consecutive one-point matches en route to beating Boisse in the 2007 St. Petersburg final and capturing his only World title. Kulcsar suffers in my rankings because he took so much of the decade off and because he appeared to be overly satisfied with his one title – evidenced by a lacklustre performance in Beijing where he never threatened to repeat.
8) Ruben Limardo – This entry may come as a surprise to some given his lack of results at the senior level but he belongs here for one reason - the 2004/2005 junior season. During this season Limardo won every single junior world cup he entered and capped it off with the Junior World Championship at the end of the season. Limardo has yet to live up to this promise as a senior but that one season was more memorable than many of the senior champions on this list.
7) Jerome Jeannet – This spot could easily go to José Luis Abajo as both of them have attained two bronze medals at World/Olympic Championships over the decade; however, Jeannet’s incredible team record and his European titles sets him a little bit ahead and robs Abajo of a spot on the list. Though often overshadowed by his younger brother, J. Jeannet stuck with the sport even after Fabrice quit and was rewarded with his second Worlds medal in three years in Antalya, ensuring a strong future for French fencing.
6) Anton Avdeev – Avdeev is the biggest surprise on this list, which makes sense since he was the most surprising World Champion that I can recall – he could be a flash in the pan like another Russian, Beketov, or, since he’s still very young, this could be the start of something amazing. By my ranking I’m leaning towards an extended run of strong performances by the Russian dynamo. Also, being an epee World Champion at 5’8” is an uncommon enough occurrence to warrant this placing.
5) Wang Lei – Wang is a champion - even though his world ranking is never very high, he always brings his best game to the biggest competitions. In 2004, he did the unthinkable in crushing Pavel Kolobkov on his way to Olympic silver. In 2006 he won gold in overtime in possibly the most upset-ridden World Championships of all time. In 2008, he was defeated by a combination of Verwijilen, the referee and nerves due to the hometown pressure. Regardless, any major competition Wang is a threat.
4) Marcel Fischer – Fischer lives for the Olympics. Back in 2000 he fought his way to the foot of the podium before losing out and finishing fourth. In 2004 he had a second chance and he didn’t squander it – he dominated the field on his way to a gold medal. Amazingly, Fischer almost missed out on the Olympics entirely that year. In one of the last qualifying World Cups of the season (Vancouver), Rota and Fischer were both battling it out to qualify individually. Both made the semi-finals and Fischer was matched up against Cody Mattern, who had been on fire all day. Fischer seemed to let his nerves get to him and made some dumb mistakes and was dispatched by the American. Rota, meanwhile, had the more proven veteran, Hugues Obry, in his bracket and fought to a 14-14 tie before winning off a parry riposte and dancing down the piste to shake hands. In the final Rota demolished Mattern and knocked Fisher out of his Olympic spot. Fischer only qualified by winning the European zonal tournament.
3) Matteo Tagliariol- This selection is based partly on results but even more on potential. Tagliariol has only been to two senior Worlds and one Olympics, so he hasn’t had the time to compile the type of impressive resumé that the two fencers who are ahead of him possess. Tagliariol’s fencing is aesthetically beautifully and deadly effective. He is a modern-day Muhammad Ali, unfortunately without the quotability.
2) Fabrice Jeannet – A list with Kolobkov at number one would be incomplete without Fabrice Jeannet at number two. Despite an amazing career, Jeannet’s success has been handcuffed by Kolobkov’s dominance over the period. Jeannet had epic final matches with Kolobkov in both 2002 and 2005, but never prevailed. In 2003, the one year that Jeannet won senior individual Worlds, Kolobkov was not there. Instead he was trapped in France due to an Air France flight attendants’ strike. Still, Jeannet has been a rock for the French team, winning team gold in both Athens and Beijing and four of the six World Championships he competed in during the decade. Jeannet capped off the decade by taking silver in Beijing to Tagliariol.
1) Pavel Kolobkov – Simply the most dominant epee fencer in recent history, perhaps even the greatest of all time. During the stretch he captured two individual Olympic medals, one of which was gold, and three World Champion titles. If the contest was changed to the best men’s epeeist of the past two decades, Kolobkov would fare even better, having captured an additional three World titles in the 90’s. Kolobkov’s contributions to the sport transcend his results, as he has influenced an entire generation of mullet-haired Russian epee fencers.
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