The round-robin format of the fencing event in the modern pentathlon allows each competitor to face each other once. Competitors use an epee, and, unlike the standard fencing competition, the first strike wins in the modern pentathlon format.

Fencing was Patton's weakest event and the one for which he trained hardest. So much did Patton improve in the lead-up to the Games that during competition he was the source of the only defeat for Jean de Mas Latrie, the number one seeded fencer. Patton finished the fencing competition third, was named a "Master of Swords" and upon returning to the US introduced the Patton Saber to the Army.

(Photo courtesy of Modern Pentathlon Federation)