Born in
Brno, Flesch was 27 years old when he came second in the Austrian sabre championships in 1899, the next year he competed for Austria at the
1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, in the first round of the
sabre event he was one of the sixteen fencers to qualify to the next round, there he finished third out of a group of eight fencers so qualified for the final pool. In the final pool of eight fencers Flesch won four of his seven matches to finish in third place for the bronze medal, thus becoming the first Jewish fencer to win an Olympic medal. He returned to Olympic competition at the
1908 Summer Olympics in London, now aged 36 years old he again participated in the
sabre event. ==Personal life==