If modern Olympic Games founder Pierre de Coubertinwere still alive, fencing would probably be his favorite event at the upcoming Beijing Olympics, not only because he was good at the sport but because his compatriots are still a leading force.

At the 2007 World Championships held in Moscow, France put on one of its best performances, winning four golds, two silvers and one bronze to lead the medal tally.

Four years ago in Athens, French fencers also made history by winning three gold medals.

Currently, France has three top-ranked teams (men's epee, men's sabre and women's sabre) and looks set to have another successful Olympic trip, this time to Beijing.

Although France tops the fencing world now, its neighbor Italy has been hoisting the flag of European fencing aloft for a long time.

Italy suffered a small setback at the 2007 worlds by winning just one gold, a comparatively poor showing for the fencing superpower.

At the 2004 Athens Games, Italy won seven fencing medals including three gold, three silvers and one bronze and was overall the biggest winner in the sport. In 2000 at Sydney it tied Russia in the medal count with three golds.

At the past three Olympics, Italy and France won 15 fencing gold medals, half of the total number on offer.

Unlike France and its top-ranked teams, Italy has a string of world individual fencers who are gold-medal favorites, such as women's foil Valentina Vezzali and men's sabre specialist Aldo Montano.

Vezzali is going for her third straight Olympic gold in Beijing, after winning the women's foil at the 2000 and 2004 Games. Since winning her first Olympic medal at the 1996 Games, the 34-year-old has won numerous honors, including three titles from the past four World Championships. Her compatriot Montano, the 2007 world runner-up, will also try to defend his Olympic title in Beijing.

Russia is another major force to be reckoned with. Although it managed to win only one gold medal in Athens, three less than it did at the 2000 and 1996 Games, it has the potential to produce winners in every event.

Also, traditional powers such as Germany, Romania, Hungary and Switzerland will try to consolidate Europe's dominant position on the sport.

The introduction of women's sabre into the 2004 Olympics has, however, opened up the sport and helped put the United States and China into the top tier of the fencing world, alongside European nations.

US fencer Mariel Zagunis won the event in Athens, followed by China's Tan Xue. Currently Tan is the No 1 ranked player in the world, followed by US players Rebecca Ward, Sada Jacobson and Zagunis.

Host China, however, is most likely to upset the old order of European dominance in August.

Apart from Tan, the rising power also features world No 1 women's epee Li Na and the top-ranked women's epee team.

Former epee world champion and the 2004 Athens Olympic silver medalist Wang Lei also has an outside gold medal chance.

Other medal hopefuls include World Cup winners Lei Sheng (men's foil), Wang Jingzhi (men's sabre) and Zhang Lei (women's foil).