Albert Ayat: The Master

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...