Fencing at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's épée

This was the eighth appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Games in 1896 (with only foil and sabre events held) but has been held at every Summer Olympics since 1900.[4]

Two of the 10 finalists from the 1928 Games returned: silver medalist (and 1924 finalist) Georges Buchard of France and bronze medalist George Calnan of the United States. Buchard was the reigning (1931) World Champion; he had also won in 1927 and would win again in 1933. He and fellow French fencer Philippe Cattiau, the 1929 and 1930 World Champion, were the favorites in the event.[4]

For the first time, no nations made their debut in the event. Belgium and the United States each appeared for the seventh time, tied for most among nations.

The competition format continued the pool play round-robin from prior years, but increased the number of touches to win a bout to 3. With fewer fencers than in prior Games, the number of rounds was reduced from four to three. A point system was used, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss.[5] The total number of touches received was used as the first tie-breaker. Touches scored was used as the second in the final.[6] It also was apparently used in the earlier rounds for the most part, though the official placing for 8th and 9th in round 1 pool 1 is inconsistent.

• Quarterfinals: 3 pools of between 9 and 11 fencers each. The top 7 fencers in the first two pools (each scheduled to have 11 fencers) and the top 6 fencers in the third pool (scheduled to have 9 fencers) advanced to the semifinals.
• Semifinals: 2 pools of 10 fencers each. The top 6 fencers in each pool advanced to the final.
• Final: 1 pool of 12 fencers.