PRINCIPLES:

Individual events
The individual events bring together about 39 fencers for each weapon that has a team event and about 24 fencers for the weapons that do not have a team event. The number of participants in individual weapon events may vary according to the distribution of fencers by weapon by the host country.
Team events
The team events bring together 8 or 9 teams for each weapon, i.e. eight teams qualified by the team qualification system, in addition to the team of the host country, if any.
10 events
212 fencers:
According to item 1 below: 4 x 39 = 156
According to item 2 below: 2 x 24 = 48
Host country: 8 = 8
Total = 212

QUALIFICATION SYSTEM IN DETAIL
1) Qualification for weapons for which there is an individual event and a team event
a) Team qualification
The teams will be composed of 3 fencers, that is, 8 teams, 24 fencers for each weapon, plus a team from the host country if applicable. These teams will qualify as follows:
The first four teams in the FIE Official Team Ranking (OR), irrespective of which zone they are from. If an NOC declines its qualification, the team ranked fifth will qualify, then the team ranked sixth, etc.
The highest-ranked team from each zone in the Adjusted FIE Team Official Ranking (AOR). If an NOC declines its qualification, the second team from the same zone in the Adjusted FIE Team Official Ranking qualifies. If a zone is not represented at all, or by only one team, but its participation is not approved by its NOC, the following highest-ranked team, irrespective of which zone it is from, qualifies.
b) Individual qualification
For each weapon, the 24 fencers from the team competition will be qualified.
The 3 highest ranked fencers in the FIE individual AOR, with only one fencer from any one country.
The 7 highest ranked fencers from the FIE individual AOR* by zone (2 from Europe, 2 from Asia-Oceania, 2 from America and 1 from Africa) with only one fencer from any one country.
The 5 highest ranked fencers from zone-qualifying events (2 from Europe, 1 from Asia-Oceania, 1 from America and 1 from Africa) with only one fencer from any one country.
In no case may a country qualify more than 3 fencers per weapon. Qualification by the FIE individual AOR and by the FIE individual AOR by zone is reserved for countries that do not have fencers qualified by team.
The zone-qualifying events are therefore open (1 fencer per country) only to those countries that have no fencers qualified (by team, by the FIE individual AOR or by the FIE individual AOR by zone).
AOR* The Adjusted Official Ranking is the FIE Official Ranking modified as follows:
For the weapons in which there is a team event, we remove the names of all the fencers from those countries which have qualified by team. Then we keep the two highest-ranked fencers per country and per zone.
Total fencers for individual events, for those weapons for which there is a team event: 24+15 = 39 fencers.
 
2) Individual qualification for weapons for which there is no team event
There are 24 remaining places for each weapon that are divided as follows:
In no case may a country qualify more than 2 fencers per weapon.
- the first 8 from the FIE individual AOR*, 2 fencers maximum per country;
- the first 8 from the FIE individual AOR by zone, 1 fencer per country, (3 for Europe, 2 for Asia-Oceania, 2 for America and 1 for Africa );
- the first 8 from the zone-qualifying events (1 fencer per country and per weapon) which are open to those countries which have no fencers qualified through the two preceding criteria for the weapon concerned (3 for Europe, 2 for Asia-Oceania, 2 for America and 1 for Africa).
AOR * The Adjusted Official Ranking is the FIE Official Ranking modified as follows:
For the weapons in which there is no team event, we keep only the 2 highest-ranked fencers per country, and all the other names are removed.

 

QUALIFICATION OF THE HOST COUNTRY
The host country will have the right to enter 8 fencers, to be distributed between team and individual events as it sees fit: thus, it could enter teams, or have no team and select for only the individual events.

 

TRIPARTITE COMMISSION (IOC-ANOC-FIE) INVITATION PLACES
The deadline for NOCs to submit their requests for Tripartite Commission Invitation places is 15 November 2007. The allocation of Invitation places will be confirmed, in writing, to the NOCs from April-July 2008. However, no places will be allocated for such Invitations within the fencing quota. Any places unused by the host country of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will be reallocated by the Tripartite Commission (IOC, NOC, FIE). Invitation requests may be matched with any unused host country places in agreement between the FIE and the IOC by (date to be confirmed).

DATES/PROCEDURE FOR CONFIRMING PLACES
The FIE will send the names of the fencers qualified though the AOR and the zone-qualifying events to the national federations on 12 May 2008. National federations must to confirm to the FIE, before midnight of 31 May 2008, that the participation of each qualified fencer has been approved by the NOC of the country concerned. From 2 June 2008, the FIE will re-allocate the places which have not been confirmed by the NOCs.

RE-ALLOCATION OF UNUSED QUOTA PLACES

If national federations do not meet the deadline of 31 May 2008 to confirm the participation of a qualified fencer, the FIE will thus re-allocate the places available as follows:
If a zone does not have a fencer ranked in the FIE Official Ranking, it is the highest-ranked fencer in the weapon concerned, irrespective of the zone, who qualifies, provided that his/her country does not already have, in that weapon:
- 3 fencers qualified (for weapons for which there is a team event) or;
- 2 fencers qualified (for weapons for which there is no team event).
In the event that the NOC of a country declines the participation of one qualified fencer:
- If the fencer is qualified through the AOR, the qualification will be re-allocated to the next fencer in this ranking;
- If the fencer is qualified through the AOR by zone, he/she will be replaced by the next-ranked fencer from the same zone;
- If the qualification was obtained through the zone-qualifying event, the qualification will be attributed to the next-ranked fencer in this event.