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Albert Ayat: The Master
French fencer
Born in 1876, fencer Albert Ayat was among France’s greatest masters of the sword by the time of the 1900 Paris Games. Only 24 years old, he had served as a sword-fighting instructor at Saint-Cyr, France’s military academy, privately taught the art of dueling to a number of European aristocrats, and organized several competitions. Not quite an amateur by Olympic standards, Ayat was invited to compete in two events: masters épée fencing and the mixed épée fencing for amateurs and masters. Ayat dominated the masters event, which was discontinued after 1906, and won his first gold medal. In elimination rounds ...(100 of 268 words)