LONDON — Egypt's Alaaeldin Abouelkassem took the Olympic silver on Tuesday after losing in the finals to China's Lei Sheng, who took gold.
Lei forged into an early 6-2 lead but Abouelkassem hit back, launching fearless attacks that used his height as an advantage before the Chinese, eighth at the 2008 Games, regained momentum to win 15-13.
It was the first men's individual Olympic foil without a European nation represented in the top three since 1900 when France swept the table.
Abouelkassem had beaten former world champions Andrea Baldini of Italy and Peter Joppich of Germany to become the first African to ever reach the semi-final stage in fencing.
The 21-year-old from Alexandria beat Cassara by a score of 15-10, using an athletic combination of running attacks that kept the Italian, who took bronze in Athens, off balance.
"I think every match I am better than the match before, so I think the last match I was better than the match before that and so on," he added.
After Abouelkassem beat Cassara, announcers referenced the historical importance of his achievement, drawing louder applause from the spectators, many of whom are new to fencing and are getting commentary through wireless headsets to explain the rules and blisteringly fast action.
Abouelkassem has broken into the top 10 on the Federation International d'Escrime point rankings in the last two seasons.
Eighth in the world, he did come tantalizingly close to a semi-final in the 2010 Paris world championships where he took sixth.
Abouelkassem trained in Alexandria before the London Games opened instead of Cairo as the capital is in political upheaval in the wake of the Arab Spring which led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 after 30 years in power.
The margins of victory were consistent, as he beat his opponents 15-10 in every bout, or match, of the day, including a triumph over perennial threat and four-times world champion Peter Joppich of Germany in the round of 16.
"My dream is over. I am of course very disappointed. I came here to win," said Joppich.
