• The American men’s foil fencing team won a bronze medal on Friday, the first medal for the United States in the event since 1932.

Alexander Massialas was the silver medalist in the individual event, and Miles Chamley-Watson has a flamboyant fencing move named after him, but it was another member of the team, Gerek Meinhardt, who was the key. Meinhardt broke open a tightly contested bronze medal match against Italy with an 8-0 shellacking of Andrea Baldini, a former world champion, and put the United States in the lead to stay. The final score was 45-31.

“I didn’t fence great against Egypt and Russia,” Meinhardt said, of the day’s earlier matches. “Finally I broke through. Frustration motivated me.”

The substitute Race Imboden rounded out the American team.He fought just one bout but won, 5-4, and hollered at the audience in delight. The same four fencers had finished in the dreaded fourth position in London in 2012. Imboden said the long-time camaraderie between the fencer was crucial to their success. “We’ve all known each other since we’ve been 10 years old.” After the victory, Chamley-Watson gave Imboden a piggyback ride as the delighted team celebrated.