[1] Each team could have a maximum of six fencers, with four participating in any given match.

[3] The competition format continued the pool play round-robin from prior years.

[3] Each of the four fencers from one team would face each of the four from the other, for a total of 16 bouts per match (with bouts unnecessary to determining the match winner sometimes not being played).

The top two teams in each pool advanced to the final.

Cuba and France both withdrew, leaving the first pool with only two teams–automatically advancing both.