Romania accomplished a pair of firsts in the women’s team epee competition Thursday. Not only did they win their nation’s first gold medal of these Olympics, but they also won Romania’s first-ever team fencing Olympic gold medal.
Romania defeated China 44-38 in the gold medal match, dethroning the reigning team epee gold medalists. Wins in their second bouts by Ana Maria Popescu(4-0) and Simona Gherman (7-5), and Loredana Dinu’s lone bout (3-2) resulted in Romania holding a 24-16 lead through seven of the nine individual bouts. The final match between Popescu and China’s Xu Anqi was full action, with Popescu racking up 14 touches to Xu’s 13, but China was unable to do enough to overtake Romania.