Fencing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Qualifying Criteria
An NOC may enter up to 3 athletes per weapon (épée, foil, or sabre) for the weapons in which there is a team event and up to 2 athletes per weapon for other weapons.

For each team event there will be 8 qualified teams plus a team from the Host Nation if applicable. The teams will qualify as follows:
 * Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) Official Team Ranking as of March 31, 2008 (best 4 teams)
 * Highest ranked team from each zone (America, Europe, Asia/Oceania, Africa) outside top 4 in FIE Team Ranking (4 teams)

For each individual event (weapons which have a team event) there will be 39 qualified athletes as follows:
 * All athletes qualified for team competition (24 athletes)
 * The 3 highest ranked athletes in the FIE Individual adjusted official ranking (AOR) (3 athletes)
 * The 7 highest ranked athletes from FIE Individual AOR by zone (Europe 2, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC
 * The 5 highest ranked athletes from zonal qualifying events (Europe 2, America 1, Asia/Oceania 1, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC

For the remaining individual events there will be 24 qualified athletes as follows:
 * The first 8 from the FIE Individual Ranking
 * The first 8 from the FIE Individual AOR by zone (Europe 3, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 athlete per country
 * The first 8 from zonal qualifying events (Europe 3, America 2, Asia/Oceania 2, Africa 1) – 1 per NOC, open only for NOCs not qualified as mentioned above

Épée
Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking: The highest-ranked team from each zone: Invitational:
 * Africa:
 * Asia-Oceania:
 * America:
 * Europe:
 * Host: ^

^ China received two additional places for team event.

Sabre
Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking: The highest-ranked team from each zone:
 * Africa:
 * Asia-Oceania:
 * America:
 * Europe:

Foil
Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking: The highest-ranked team from each zone:
 * Africa:
 * Asia-Oceania:
 * America:
 * Europe:

Sabre
Team Competition:

The first four teams in the FIE team ranking: The highest-ranked team from each zone:
 * Africa:
 * Asia-Oceania:
 * America:
 * Europe:

'' * 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. Any places unused by the host country of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will be reallocated by the Tripartite Commission (IOC, NOC, FIE)''