2020 Olympic & Paralympic Games Preview Issue

USAFENCING.ORG B

SPECIAL EDITION | VOLUME 71 | ISSUE 2

8

38

OLYMPIANS

TEAM ROSTER | SCHEDULE | BIOS

44

PARALYMPIANS

TEAM ROSTER | SCHEDULE | BIOS

BEHIND THE MASK JAKE HOYLE

50 BEHIND THE MASK SHELBY JENSEN

THE FRONT 4 PRESIDENT’S LETTER 5 EDITOR’S NOTE 6 YOUR CLUB

OLYMPIANS 8 TEAM ROSTER 10 TEAM SCHEDULE 12 PREVIEW 14 FOIL BIOS 22 SABER BIOS 30 EPEE BIOS 38 BEHIND THE MASK: JAKE HOYLE

PARALYMPIANS 44 TEAM ROSTER

44 TEAM SCHEDULE 45 PREVIEW 46 BIOS 50 BEHIND THE MASK: SHELBY JENSEN

SPECIAL EDITION VOLUME 71 ISSUE 2 C USAFENCING.ORG 3

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

To USA Fencing and Parafencing Teams, As you embark on the quest to compete at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralymic Games, we of USA Fencing and Parafencing congratulate you on your achievements up to now, and are confident that you will reach the highest level of success as athletes representing the United States and our organization. This has and continues to be a trying time. Please know that the enthusiastic support from your friends and family at USA Fencing and Parafencing is behind you all the way. So many of your fans and loved ones cannot come to witness your performances in person, but we will be watching and cheering from afar, confident that all of you will give your best performances and achieve your highest goals.

This experience will be a unique one. There has never been a Games quite like this one, but we are confident that the International Olympic Committee, the FIE and the Japanese Organizing Committee will take every measure to insure your safety and ability to compete to your best ability. Please take every precaution to keep you and your teammates safe. USA Fencing and our support staff are there to help. We have taken extraordinary measures to make sure you are well taken care of and receive every measure of support we can provide.

All of your training and all of your sacrifice is about to pay off in Tokyo. Thank you for representing us, and best of luck in Tokyo 2021. We all wish you the best!

Peter Burchard President, USA Fencing

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Unquestionably, it has been a long, long wait for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Team USA athletes have been chomping at the proverbial bit while quarantined, masked and challenged amid trying to keep their fitness edges sharp and minds focused. There have been rumors and suggestions that the Games would be canceled, might be moved to another country, maybe get postponed again. But the time is upon us and the Games are now imminent, and we are ready to go!

Along with just a few other countries, Team USA Fencing is taking 18 athletes to Tokyo. For the first time in Olympic history, 12 gold medals will be given out in all senior events—no longer do we have to relegate two teams to a mini-World Championship.

Our fencers are as trained, ready and gung-ho as they’ve ever been in history. We have a remarkable opportunity to make history this year, and each contender has his and her eyes on winning as never before.

Clubs are coming back after the pandemic, and for many, numbers are up. Fencing social media is pulling numbers nationally and internationally, our sport is gaining traction and popularity among young athletes.

If there was ever a time to get on the fencing bandwagon, it is now. The Olympics always garner interest in fencing, things are opening and people like our sport. It’s got a “cool factor” we’ve worked hard to attain. We’re seeing more feature stories about fencing, it’s appearing in commercials and elite athletes are even getting invited on late-night television.

I urge each member of USA Fencing to become an ambassador for our sport. Let’s push this as far as it will go and beyond. We’ve got what it takes and we CAN do it!

Leverage the Olympics for your club, do whatever you can to get the message out in your community about what a great sport fencing is for kids and take every opportunity to give people the opportunity to experience it.

2021 has the promise of being a golden moment in USA Fencing history. Let’s pull together as a family and do everything in our power to make that happen, at all levels, whatever it takes …

Serge Timacheff Editor, American Fencing Magazine

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TOKYO 2020

OLYMPIC FENCING & YOUR CLUB:

Make the Most of It! Serge Timacheff with contribution from Jeff Bukantz

T

USA FENCING CLUB

TOOLKIT

USA Fencing is pleased to offer all USA Fencing clubs marketing toolkits to help you take advantage of the excitement around the Games. Attract new members and promote your club before, during and after the Games with a pre- and post-Games toolkit.

The first campaign, called “We Make Champions” includes flyers as well as social media graphics.

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he Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games are finally upon us, albeit a year later than originally scheduled. Fencing, as it has been since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, will take place beginning the day after the Opening Ceremony on Saturday, July 24 with individual men’s saber and women’s epee and continuing until Sunday, August 1. The Opening Ceremony for the Paralympic Games will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 24 with wheelchair fencing running from Wednesday Aug. 25 through Sunday, Aug. 29.

Simply put, there just is no other event with more prowess, prestige or excitement than the Olympic Games. For most all athletes, it represents the pinnacle of achievement just to be an Olympian, and winning an Olympic medal is, of course the ultimate prize. Team USA includes 24 Olympic and three Paralympic qualifiers, but each will have the ability to serve as an inspiration for millions around the world – from current and former fencers to new fans and those who become inspired to try the sport by the heroes they see on television.

Most notably, this will be the first time in history fencing will have all 12 events represented at the Olympic Games in gold-medal competition, including both men and women fencing epee, foil and saber in individual and team matches.

Through several years of lobbying the International Olympic Committee – and perhaps bolstered by the fact that the IOC president, Thomas Bach, is himself an Olympic fencing gold medalist – the International Fencing Federation (FIE) was finally successful in achieving this momentous goal.

For the first time in history, all six individual events will be contested at the Paralympic Games as well with women’s saber making its debut in Tokyo.

The USA is one of only a handful of countries to have qualified a full complement of 18 individual fencers – the maximum allowed – for Tokyo 2020. This, in and of itself, is a remarkable accomplishment. Leading up to when Mariel Zagunis won the first-ever Olympic women’s saber title in Athens 2004, and continuing since that point, the USA has become a veritable force to contend with in fencing as never in its history. Going into Tokyo 2020, we have many athletes capable of medaling, not the least of which is our number-one-ranked men’s foil team.

THE OLYMPIC IMPRESSION. For many athletes, the first encounter they may have had with fencing was the Olympic Games. Certainly, popular movies like The Parent Trap and The Princess Bride have introduced kids to the sport, but the excitement of fencing’s prominence in the Olympic Games always seems to make an impression, which, then equates to a heightened awareness of and interest in it especially among children. What fencer hasn’t dreamed, even for a moment, of what it would be like to win Olympic gold?

Every Olympic quadrennium (OK, this time it was five years) presents a unique opportunity for clubs to leverage Olympic fencing to generate excitement and interest, boost numbers in beginning classes, and generally build awareness. Media coverage of fencing has also increased, and the opportunities to watch Olympic fencing on TV and livestreaming are greater than ever before. NBC – the official Olympic broadcaster – is apparently planning more fencing coverage than in the past and already has commentators and reporters for the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) already hard at work honing their fencing knowledge and stats.

Consequently, there are several activities in which clubs can engage to connect their members and potential students with Olympic fencing. With the Games coming up soon, and the archived bouts surely to be available for some time to come, it’s a great time to plan how to make the most of the Olympic fencing impression to help make the back-to-school September numbers bigger than ever – especially after more than a year of challenging pandemic-related shutdowns.

Here are some thoughts and ideas to help make the Olympics build excitement in fencing clubs: PLAN AN OLYMPIC OR PARALYMPIC PARTY. Celebrate the Games! Put on an open house, demonstration tournament or series of events when fencing is being broadcast and put them onto a big TV or projector. Decorate the club with [hopefully on-sale] post-July 4th USA-branded flags and banners, and spend some time giving kids (and parents!) some history about the sport. Dedicate some time to explaining how the Games work, what it took for fencers to qualify, and talk a bit about the history of fencing. Have a mini-Olympic team event or tournament, or even a demonstration event open to the public. Consider donating proceeds to USA Fencing to help the Olympians!

MAKE STARS OF USA FENCERS. Team USA has some incredibly talented and charismatic athletes fencing in Tokyo this year, and nearly all started as youth, cadet and junior fencers. Pick a few athletes – perhaps ones associated with whatever weapon(s) in which the club specializes – and help the students get to know them. Post their photos at the club, give profiles of their accomplishments, show fencing videos from the FIE Fencing Channel on YouTube of

world events where they did well, provide personal information about them from their bios, and then post the days that they will be competing – and then get everyone together to watch and cheer for them. Kids love following sports stars, and, unlike some other sports, they will even likely encounter the athletes at national or even regional events.

Nearly all Olympic and Paralympic fencers have their own social media accounts, as well, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more. Have kids follow their favorite fencers, cheer them on with posts and likes, congratulate them on wins and medals and get them engaged directly with their “stars.”

MAKE THE OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES A TEACHING OPPORTUNITY. Much can be learned from using the Olympics as a teaching tool. First, as history, fencing is steeped in stories, culture and achievements.

From Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who, a fencer himself, started the modern-day Olympic Games, to the inclusion of women in the Games, to the start of the Paralympic Games to Peter Westbrook being the first Black U.S. fencer to win an Olympic medal, and so on … there is a lot of ground to cover with colorful stories and tales from the strip.

Another teaching aspect of the Games is the importance of team competition in fencing. Until kids get to be juniors, they often do not experience fencing team competition, and, at the world fencing level and certainly in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, team fencing is equally – if not in some cases more – important to participating nations than individual competition.

Getting kids involved in understanding how team competition works, why it’s important, why it’s so exciting to fence and the complex strategies and tactics involved is, in itself, worth spending time

on in a club setting. Even hosting a small team competition to mimic Tokyo 2020 would give kids a chance to try the team experience, and what it is like to cheer on a teammate and team in a match against a rival – or even another random group of team fencers from the same club.

The other factor to address is how individual competition works at the Olympic Games. Because there are no pools, the relatively small group of fencers participating in the Olympic Games (much smaller than the average event at Summer Nationals, for example) go directly into direct elimination rounds. For some fencers, one DE will represent their entire Olympic experience. Yet, they are Olympians nonetheless and worked tremendously hard to reach that goal.

This message – which includes elements of loss and defeat, reward for accomplishing something without necessarily winning a medal and what it means to do your best in all situations – is a great asset to coaching young fencers to understand what it means to engage in competition.

The Paralympic Games, on the other hand, do begin with pool rounds after which there is a cut, similar to a World Championships or other events students may be used to. Even this difference in format could create a lot of great conversation among fencers: Which format would you prefer and why?

NATIONAL PRIDE. In a time of great political and cultural upheaval in the world and the USA, the Olympic Games and Olympic Spirit give children a chance to pull together despite any differences and cheer for their country. Getting kids to yell Go USA! cuts across all boundaries for American fencers, especially knowing it is during a worldwide TV audience, and the Olympic Games is a truly golden opportunity to express patriotism and comradery – especially at such a tumultuous time for us all.

PLANNING AN EVENT? Here are some resources to help provide a fun and exciting Olympic fencing experience for a club: USA Fencing’s Tokyo Tracker | https://www.usafencing.org/tokyo-tracker Full Olympic Fencing Schedule | https://olympicsvenue.com/fencing.html This site also tracks medalists as they occur, as well as a guide to watching any Olympic fencing livestreaming from anywhere in the world. Updates are provided 30 minutes prior to matches.

The FIE Fencing Channel on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/user/FIEvideo The IOC Online Fencing Resource Page | https://olympics.com/en/sports/fencing/ U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Tokyo 2020 Pages | https://www.teamusa.org/tokyo-2020-olympic-games

| https://www.teamusa.org/Tokyo-2020-Paralympic-Games

USA Fencing’s Paralympic Team Roster | https://www.usafencing.org/2021-paralympic-team Full Paralympic Fencing Schedule | https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/paralympics/schedule/para-wheelchair-fencing-schedule About Wheelchair Fencing | https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/paralympics/sports/wheelchair-fencing/

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U.S. OLYMPIC FENCING TEAM ROSTER

MEN’S

WOMEN’S

Gerek Meinhardt

Lee Kiefer

Alexander Massialas

Jackie Dubrovich

Nick Itkin

Nicole Ross

FOIL

(San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation / Notre Dame) (San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation / Stanford) (Los Angeles, Calif. / Los Angeles International Fencing Center / Notre Dame)

Replacement Athlete: Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

FOIL

(Lexington, Ky. / Bluegrass Fencers’ Club / Notre Dame) (Riverdale, N.J. / Fencer’s Underground / Columbia) (New York City, N.Y. / New York Athletic Club / Columbia)

Replacement Athlete: Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation / Notre Dame)

SABER

SABER

Eli Dershwitz

Mariel Zagunis

Daryl Homer

Eliza Stone

Andrew Mackiewicz

Dagmara Wozniak

Replacement Athlete: Khalil Thompson (Teaneck, N.J. / Peter Westbrook Foundation / Penn State)

Replacement Athlete: Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J. / Bergen Fencing Club / Notre Dame)

EPEE

EPEE

Jake Hoyle

Courtney Hurley

Curtis McDowald

Kelley Hurley

Yeisser Ramirez

Kat Holmes

Replacement Athlete: Alen Hadzic (West Orange, N.J. / Fencers Club)

Replacement Athlete: Anna van Brummen (Houston, Texas / Alliance Fencing Academy / Princeton)

(Sherborn, Mass. / Zeta Fencing Academy / Harvard) (Bronx, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation / St. John’s) (Westwood, Mass. / Zeta Fencing Academy / Penn State)

(Philadelphia, Pa. / New York Athletic Club / Columbia) (Jamaica, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation / St. John’s) (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation)

(Beaverton, Ore. / Oregon Fencing Alliance / Notre Dame) (Chicago, Ill. / Bergen Fencing Club / Princeton) (Avenel, N.J. / Manhattan Fencing Center / St. John’s)

(San Antonio, Texas / New York Athletic Club / Notre Dame) (San Antonio, Texas / New York Athletic Club / Notre Dame) (Washington, D.C. / New York Athletic Club / Princeton)

ATHLETES 8 AMERICAN FENCING B

MEN’S

FOIL COACHES Greg Massialas

(San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation)

Misha Itkin

(Los Angeles, Calif. / Los Angeles International Fencing Center)

SABER COACHES Zoran Tulum

(Natick, Mass. / Zeta Fencing Academy)

Christian Rascioni

(South Bend, Ind. / Notre Dame)

Akhi Spencer-El

(New York City, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation)

EPEE COACHES Kornel Udvarhelyi

(Glendale, N.Y. / Fencers Club)

Alexey Cheremsky

(Paramus, N.J. / Fencers Club)

Aladar Kogler

(New York City, N.Y. / New York Athletic Club)

SABER COACHES Yury Gelman

(Rockaway, N.J. / Manhattan Fencing Center)

Ed Korfanty

(Portland, Ore. / Oregon Fencing Alliance)

Oleg Stetsiv

(Staten Island, N.Y. / Bergen Fencing Club)

EPEE COACHES Andrey Geva

(Houston, Texas / Alliance Fencing Academy)

Zoltan Dudas

(Princeton, N.J. / Princeton)

CADRE

CHEF DE MISSION Peter Burchard

USA Fencing President / Chairman of the Board (El Cerrito, Calif. / North Bay Fencing Academy)

TEAM CAPTAIN Daria Schneider

(Brookline, Mass. / Harvard)

WOMEN’S

FOIL COACHES Buckie Leach

(South Bend, Ind. / Notre Dame)

Brian Kaneshige

(Maplewood, N.J. / Fencer’s Underground)

Amgad Khazbak

(Lexington, Ky. / Bluegrass Fencers’ Club)

Jimmy Moody

(Colorado Springs, Colo. / New York Athletic Club)

TEAM LEADER Kate Reisinger

(Colorado Springs, Colo.)

SPORTS MEDICINE Jeremy Summers (Englewood, Colo.)

Peggy Chin

(Whittier, Calif.)

ARMORER Liz Morey

(Chapel Hill, N.C. / University of North Carolina)

STAFF C USAFENCING.ORG 9

FENCING SCHEDULE SATURDAY, JULY 24 Women’s Individual Epee & Men’s Individual Saber Table of 64: 9 a.m. JST / 8 p.m. EDT on July 23 Semifinals: 6 p.m. JST / 5 a.m. EDT Women’s Epee Bronze Medal Bout: 7:50 p.m. JST / 6:50 a.m. EDT Men’s Saber Bronze Medal Bout: 8:25 p.m. JST / 8:15 a.m. EDT Women’s Epee Gold Medal Bout: 8:45 p.m. JST / 7:45 a.m. EDT Men’s Saber Gold Medal Bout: 9:10 p.m. JST / 8:10 a.m. EDT

SUNDAY, JULY 25 Women’s Individual Foil & Men’s Individual Epee Table of 64: 9 a.m. JST / 8 p.m. EDT on July 24 Semifinals: 6 p.m. JST / 5 a.m. EDT Women’s Foil Bronze Medal Bout: 7:50 p.m. JST / 6:50 a.m. EDT Men’s Epee Bronze Medal Bout: 8:20 p.m. JST / 7:20 a.m. EDT Women’s Foil Gold Medal Bout: 8:45 p.m. JST / 7:45 a.m. EDT Men’s Epee Gold Medal Bout: 9:10 p.m. JST / 8:10 a.m. EDT

MONDAY, JULY 26 Women’s Individual Saber & Men’s Individual Foil Table of 64: 9 a.m. JST / 8 p.m. EDT on July 25 Semifinals: 6 p.m. JST / 5 a.m. EDT Women’s Saber Bronze Medal Bout: 7:50 p.m. JST / 6:50 a.m. EDT Men’s Foil Bronze Medal Bout: 8:15 p.m. JST / 7:15 a.m. EDT Women’s Saber Gold Medal Bout: 8:45 p.m. JST / 7:45 a.m. EDT Men’s Foil Gold Medal Bout: 9:10 p.m. JST / 8:10 a.m. EDT

TUESDAY, JULY 27 Women’s Team Epee Quarterfinals: 11:25 a.m. JST / 10:25 p.m. EDT on July 26 Semifinals: 1:40 p.m. JST / 12:40 a.m. EDT Bronze Medal Match: 6:30 p.m. JST / 5:30 a.m. EDT Gold Medal Match: 7:30 p.m. JST / 6:30 a.m. EDT

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 28 Men’s Team Saber Table of 16: 10 a.m. JST / 9 p.m. EDT on July 27 Quarterfinals: 11:25 a.m. JST / 10:25 p.m. EDT on July 27 Semifinals: 1:40 p.m. JST / 12:40 a.m. EDT Bronze Medal Match: 6:30 p.m. JST / 5:30 a.m. EDT Gold Medal Match: 7:30 p.m. JST / 6:30 a.m. EDT

THURSDAY, JULY 29 Women’s Team Foil Quarterfinals: 10:50 a.m. JST / 9:50 p.m. EDT on July 28 Semifinals: 1:55 p.m. JST / 12:55 a.m. EDT Bronze Medal Match: 6:30 p.m. JST / 5:30 a.m. EDT Gold Medal Match: 7:55 p.m. JST / 6:55 a.m. EDT

FRIDAY, JULY 30 Men’s Team Epee Table of 16: 10 a.m. JST / 9 p.m. EDT on July 29 Quarterfinals: 11:25 a.m. JST / 10:25 p.m. EDT on July 29 Semifinals: 1:40 p.m. JST / 12:40 a.m. EDT Bronze Medal Match: 6:30 p.m. JST / 5:30 a.m. EDT Gold Medal Match: 7:30 p.m. JST / 6:30 a.m. EDT

SATURDAY, JULY 31 Women’s Team Saber Table of 16: 10 a.m. JST / 9 p.m. EDT on July 30 Quarterfinals: 11:25 a.m. JST / 10:25 p.m. EDT on July 30 Semifinals: 1:40 p.m. JST / 12:40 a.m. EDT Bronze Medal Match: 6:30 p.m. JST / 5:30 a.m. EDT Gold Medal Match: 7:30 p.m. JST / 6:30 a.m. EDT

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 Men’s Team Foil Table of 16: 9 a.m. JST / 8 p.m. EDT on July 31 Quarterfinals: 10:45 a.m. JST / 9:45 p.m. EDT on July 31 Semifinals: 1:40 p.m. JST / 12:40 a.m. EDT Bronze Medal Match: 6:30 p.m. JST / 5:30 a.m. EDT Gold Medal Match: 7:50 p.m. JST / 6:50 a.m. EDT

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TEAM USA TAKES ON THE WORLD IN TOKYO

D

uring the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Team USA has the potential to being home more medals than ever before.

Now one of the world’s powerhouses in fencing, eight of the United States’ 24 fencers have won an Olympic medal and seven currently rank in the top 10 in the World Rankings.

With all six team events being contested for the first time at the Games, Team USA will send a full contingent of 18 individual fencers and four team replacement athletes with the team split evenly between returning Olympians and first-time team members who have the potential to make a splash on the world’s biggest stage.

MEN’S FOIL All three members of Team USA competing individually rank in the top 10.

Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation / Notre Dame) ranks the highest of the men’s foil fencers at No. 2. Competing at his fourth Olympic Games, the two-time Senior World bronze medalist and 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist is looking stronger than ever before. After winning two medals on the circuit prior to the pandemic, including the gold at the Torino Grand Prix, Meinhardt took momentum into Tokyo by winning gold at the Doha Grand Prix in March in the only international competition this season before the Games begin. Meinhardt’s teammate on the 2016 bronze-medal winning team and fellow San Francisco native, Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation / Stanford), won individual silver at the Rio Olympic Games, becoming the first U.S. foil fencer to win an individual silver medal at the Olympic Games since 1932. Now No. 5 and fencing at his third Games, Massialas won silver and bronze prior to the pandemic. Although Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif. / Los Angeles International Fencing Center / Notre Dame) will be competing at his first Olympic Games, at No. 9 in the world, the junior at Notre Dame has had a meteoric rise in the last three years. Itkin won gold at the 2018 Junior World Championships before winning his first medal on the senior circuit in the fall. Now Itkin has three World Cup medals to his name, including gold at the Paris World Cup in 2019.

Three of the four members from the 2016 bronze medal-winning team return in Tokyo, including Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.), who ranks No. 4 and enters as the replacement athlete. The reigning Senior World Champions, Team USA won its first team gold in men’s foil in 2019 and looks to become the first U.S. team to win gold at the Olympic Games. Since Rio, the men’s foil team has medaled at every Worlds during the quad and currently ranks No. 1 in the world, winning three of the four World Cups in the 2019-20 season prior to the pandemic.

WOMEN’S FOIL Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky. / Bluegrass Fencers’ Club / Notre Dame) has been knocking on the door at the Olympic Games, taking fifth at her first Olympics in London. Currently No. 5, Kiefer ranked No. 1 during the current quad and prior to the pandemic, won three medals on the World Cup circuit. The 2011 Senior World bronze medalist looks to win the first individual women’s foil medal at her third Olympic Games in Tokyo. Kiefer’s teammate in London, Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y. / New York Athletic Club / Columbia), won three medals on the World Cup circuit to start the quad and will compete at her second Games. The 2019 Pan Am Champion took a top-16 finish in the last tournament before the pandemic. The third member of Team USA competing individually will be Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J. / Fencer’s Underground / Columbia), who made her first Senior World Team in 2019 and will fence at her first Olympic Games.

As a team, Team USA has medaled at the last two World Championships.

Three years ago, the U.S. women’s foil team won its first ever World Championship in the team event. Two of those gold medalists – Kiefer and Ross – return looking to repeat the accomplishment. The following year, Kiefer, Ross and Dubrovich earned bronze. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / Mas-

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sialas Foundation / Notre Dame), the younger sister of Alex Massialas and the first U.S. fencer ever to win a Youth Olympic Games gold medal in 2014, will be the replacement athlete in Tokyo and together, the U.S. women’s foil team looks to win the squad’s second Olympic medal after winning silver in 2008.

MEN’S SABER Tying Meinhardt as the top-ranked member of Team USA at No. 2, Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass. / Zeta Fencing Academy / Harvard) is a top medal contender in men’s saber.

The 2018 World silver medalist, Dershwitz became the first U.S. men’s saber fencer to win the Overall World Cup title as the No. 1 fencer in the world in 2018. Prior to the pandemic, Dershwitz won silver at the Warsaw World Cup. Looking to return to the Olympic podium, Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation / St. John’s) earned silver in Rio, becoming the first U.S. men’s saber fencer to win an individual silver medal at the Olympic Games since 1904. Homer also made history in 2015 when he became the first U.S. man to win a medal in saber at the Senior World Championships. Competing at his first Olympic Games, Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass. / Zeta Fencing Academy / Penn State) is a three-time Senior World Team member, two-time NCAA Champion and the 2018 Pan American Championships bronze medalist.

Available to Team USA as the replacement athlete is 2019 Senior World Team member Khalil Thompson (Teaneck, N.J. / Peter Westbrook Foundation / Penn State), who won his first Division I gold at the May North American Cup to solidify his spot on Team USA. The United States will enter the team event ranked No. 8 in the world.

WOMEN’S SABER Featuring a trio of athletes with more than 30 years of combined international experience, two of the women’s saber fencers rank in the top 10 for Team USA. 2018 World bronze medalist Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill. / Bergen Fencing Club / Princeton) will compete at her first Olympic Games in Tokyo after narrowly missing out in 2016. No. 6 in the World Rankings, Stone took a top-eight finish at the Montreal Grand Prix during the 2019-20 season prior to the pandemic. Team USA’s most decorated fencer in history, Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore. / Oregon Fencing Alliance / Notre Dame), will be in attendance, competing at her fifth Olympic Games and first as a mom. The two-time Olympic Champion and four-time Olympic medalist, including bronze in the team event in Rio, currently sits at No. 9. One of eight women in the U.S. delegation with four or more World Cup circuit medals to her credit, Zagunis won gold in the final event before the pandemic in Athens. Zagunis’ teammate on the bronze medal team in Rio, Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J. / Manhattan Fencing Center / St. John’s), will be competing at her third Olympic Games. The five-time Senior World team medalist took a top-eight finish in Athens prior to the shutdown.

Making her Senior National Team debut, two-time NCAA Champion Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J. / Bergen Fencing Club / Notre Dame) will be the replacement athlete for the women’s saber team. Together, the squad looks to defend its bronze medal from Tokyo. The team currently ranks No. 7, but prior to the pandemic, won bronze at the Salt Lake City World Cup in 2019.

MEN’S EPEE The entirety of the men’s epee squad will be fencing at its first Olympic Games, but two of its members have medaled internationally. Although Jake Hoyle (Philadelphia, Pa. / New York Athletic Club / Columbia) didn’t compete internationally until after he graduated from Columbia, where he won two indi-

vidual NCAA titles, Hoyle won two bronze medals on the World Cup circuit in 2019, becoming the first U.S. men’s epee fencer to earn two individual medals in the same season in a decade.

Curtis McDowald (Jamaica, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation / St. John’s), the 2018 Pan American bronze medalist, also has stood on the podium on the World Cup circuit, taking the bronze at the 2019 Buenos Aires World Cup. Yeisser Ramirez (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation) is originally from Cuba, but the 2015 Senior World Team member will represent Team USA at his first Olympic Games.

For the first time since 2004, the United States will compete in the men’s epee team event. Currently ranked No. 10, Alen Hadzic (West Orange, N.J. / Fencers Club) qualified as the replacement athlete after winning gold at the May NAC.

WOMEN’S EPEE Sisters Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas / New York Athletic Club / Notre Dame) and Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas / New York Athletic Club / Notre Dame) will compete together at their third Games in Tokyo. The pair won bronze together in 2012 and made history in the process, winning the first women’s epee medal at the Olympic Games. Since then, Courtney Hurley, who was the anchor for the 2012 team, has seen success individually, winning bronze at the 2018 World Championships. Kelley Hurley, who will fence at her fourth Olympic Games, won gold at the 2019 Pan American Championships. Also competing for Team USA will be Kat Holmes (Washington, D.C. / New York Athletic Club / Princeton), who will fence at her second Games and has become the anchor for Team USA in the team event.

In 2018, Courtney Hurley, Kelley Hurley and Kat Homes competed together and brought home the first World Championship gold for team USA in women’s epee. With the core of that team still intact, along with replacement athlete Anna van Brummen (Houston, Texas / Alliance Fencing Academy / Princeton), Team USA will look to repeat on that gold medal-winning performance. The squad currently ranks No. 5, but prior to the pandemic, secured bronze at two of the three World Cups during the 2019-20 season. Saturday, July 24 Women’s Individual Epee and Men’s Individual Saber Table of 64: 9 a.m. JST / 8 p.m. EDT on July 23 Semifinals: 6 p.m. JST / 5 a.m. EDT Women’s Epee Bronze Medal Bout: 7:50 p.m. JST / 6:50 a.m. EDT Men’s Saber Bronze Medal Bout: 8:20 p.m. JST / 7:20 a.m.

EDT Women’s Epee Gold Medal Bout: 8:45 p.m. JST / 7:45 a.m.

EDT Men’s Saber Gold Medal Bout: 9:15 p.m. JST / 8:15 a.m.

EDT Sunday, July 25 Women’s Individual Foil and Men’s Individual Epee Table of 64: 9 a.m. JST / 8 p.m. EDT on July 24 Semifinals: 6 p.m. JST / 5 a.m. EDT Women’s Foil Bronze Medal Bout: 7:50 p.m. JST / 6:50 a.m.

EDT Men’s Epee Bronze Medal Bout: 8:20 p.m. JST / 7:20 a.m.

EDT Women’s Foil Gold Medal Bout: 8:45 p.m. JST / 7:45 a.m.

EDT Men’s Epee Gold Medal Bout: 9:15 p.m. JST / 8:15 a.m. EDT

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MEN’S FOIL GEREK MEINHARDT Olympic Games: 2020, 2016 (Team Bronze), 2012, 2008 Current World Ranking: No. 2 Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.

Current Residence: Lexington, Ky. Age: 30 Club: Massialas Foundation College: First-year student at the University of Kentucky Medical School,

MBA from the University of Notre Dame (2015), Bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame in information technology management (2013)

Career Highlights: • 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist • Four-time Senior World team medalist (2019 - Gold, 2018, - Silver, 2017 - Silver, 2013 - Silver) • 2019 Senior World Team Champion • Two-time Ind. NCAA Champion (2010, 2014) • First U.S. men’s foil fencer to earn World No. 1 (2014) One of the rising talents of the U.S. Men’s Team from a young age, Gerek became the first U.S. men’s fencer ever to qualify for the Cadet, Junior and Senior World Teams all in the same year (2007) and went on to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team as the youngest athlete ever to compete on a U.S. Olympic Fencing Team at age 18.

Gerek went on to win a medal at the Senior World Championships where he brought home a bronze in 2010. He returned to the podium in 2015, winning a second bronze and becoming the only U.S. man to reach the podium twice in the individual event.

After winning bronze with Team USA at the 2016 Olympic Games, Gerek and his teammates won silver medals at the 2017 and 2018 Senior World Championships before earning Team USA’s first-ever Senior World title in the men’s team foil event in 2019.

In September of 2019, Gerek married Lee Kiefer, his teammate at Notre Dame and on the 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic Teams in what was dubbed the “Royal Fencing Wedding.” During the COVID-19 shutdown of competition, Gerek began his medical school career at the University of Kentucky.

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MEN’S FOIL ALEXANDER MASSIALAS Olympic Games: 2020, 2016 (Individual Silver, Team Bronze), 2012 Current World Ranking: No. 5 Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.

Current Residence: San Francisco, Calif.

Age: 27 Club: Massialas Foundation College: Bachelor’s in engineering from Stanford University (2017) Career Highlights: • 2016 Olympic ind. silver medalist • 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist • Five-time Senior World medalist (2019 - Team Gold, 2018 - Team Silver, 2017, Team Silver, 2015 - Ind. Silver, 2013 - Team Silver) • Two-time ind. NCAA Champion (2013, 2015) • Two-time Overall World Cup Champion (2016, 2017) The son of three-time Olympian Greg Massialas, Alexander has become one of the most successful men’s foil fencers in U.S. history, winning silver in the individual event at the 2016 Olympic Games, making him the first U.S. foil fencer to win an individual silver medal at the Olympic Games since 1932 and anchoring the United States to bronze in the team competition.

Once the youngest member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team in any sport at age 18, Alexander has now anchored the U.S. Men’s Foil Team for nearly a decade, silver medals in 2013, 2017 and 2018.

In 2019, the U.S. Men’s Foil Team made history again, winning its first-ever Senior World Championship gold and will enter the Olympic Games as the No. 1 team in the world.

Alexander will be joined in Tokyo by younger sister Sabrina who qualified as a replacement for the women’s foil squad.

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MEN’S FOIL NICK ITKIN Olympic Games: 2020 Current World Ranking: No. 9 Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.

Current Residence: Los Angeles, Calif.

Age: 21 Club: Los Angeles International Fencing Center College: Notre Dame (2022) Career Highlights: • 2018 Junior World Champion (Ind.) • 2017 Junior World Team Champion • First U.S. fencer to win individual Junior World, Division I and NCAA Championship titles in the same season (2018) • Two-time Ind. NCAA Champion (2018 and 2019) • 2020 Paris World Cup Champion (Ind.) Coached by father Misha Itkin, Nick comes from a family of athletes, including his older sister Julia Itkina who competed on the U.S. Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team and his mother who was a rhythmic gymnast for her native Ukraine.

While still in high school, Nick established himself as an Olympic contender when he won Division I National Championships as a 17 year old in 2017 and went on to earn the first of three career individual medals on the senior international circuit that same year.

After winning gold in the team event at the 2017 Junior Worlds, Nick returned the following year for an individual title. Itkin made his Senior World Championship debut in 2019 where he fenced the individual competition and went on to win four straight medals with the U.S. Men’s Foil Team prior to the shutdown in 2020.

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MEN’S FOIL RACE IMBODEN Olympic Games: 2020 (Replacement Athlete),

2016 (Team Bronze), 2012

Current World Ranking: No. 9 Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y. Current Residence: Los Angeles, Calif.

Age: 28 Career Highlights: • 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist • Four-time Senior World team medalist (2019 - Gold, 2018, - Silver, 2017 - Silver, 2013 - Silver) • Six-time Pan American Champion (Individual) • First U.S. man to win an individual FIE Overall World Cup Title (2014-15) • 21-time ind. World Cup circuit medalist Imboden took up fencing when, as a child, a stranger saw him playing with swords in a park and suggested he take up fencing. By 18, Imboden qualified for her first Senior World Championship Team, earning a top-eight finish in his debut in 2011 and has remained a core member of the U.S. Men’s Foil Team for a decade, winning four team medals at the Senior World Championships, including gold in 2019 and silvers in 2013, 2017 and 2018. In 2016, Imboden won bronze with Team USA in Rio. When not competing on the world’s stage, Imboden has traveled the globe as a top runway model, walking for labels such as Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

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WOMEN’S FOIL LEE KIEFER Olympic Games: 2020, 2016, 2012 Current World Ranking: No. 5 Hometown: Lexington, Ky. Current Residence: Lexington, Ky. Age: 27 Club: Bluegrass Fencers’ Club College: Third year med student at the University of Kentucky, Bachelor’s

degree in science pre-professional studies from the University of Notre Dame (2017),

Career Highlights: • Four-time Senior World medalist (2019 – Team Bronze, 2018 – Team Gold, 2017 – Team Silver, 2011 – individual bronze) • First U.S. women’s foil fencer to earn a No. 1 world ranking (2017) • Second U.S. women’s foil fencer ever to win a medal at the Senior World Championships (2011) • 10-time World Cup circuit medalist • Four-time ind. NCAA Champion (2017, 2015, 2014, 2013) Lee Kiefer, whose father was a former fencer at Duke, has become the most decorated women’s foil fencer in U.S. history, winning individual bronze at the 2011 Senior World Championships at just 17 years old and adding three more podium finishes when she led the U.S. Women’s Foil Team to a trio of medals at the 2017 (silver), 2018 (gold) and 2019 (bronze) Senior World Championships.

After winning four straight NCAA Championships for Notre Dame, Lee enrolled in the University of Kentucky Medical School in 2017 and began her third year during the COVID-19 pandemic while training for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

In 2019, Lee married men’s foil fencer Gerek Meinhardt - her teammate at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games as well as at Notre Dame.

Both of Lee’s siblings also are fencers as well with older sister Alex Kiefer winning the individual NCAA Championships for Harvard in 2011. Her younger brother, Axel Kiefer, competed on two Junior and two Cadet World Teams and went on to fence at Notre Dame where he and Lee were both members of the team that won the 2017 NCAA Championships.

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WOMEN’S FOIL JACKIE DUBROVICH Olympic Games: 2020 Current World Ranking: No. 24 Hometown: Riverdale, N.J. Current Residence: Maplewood, N.J. Age: 27 Club: Fencer’s Underground College: Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in psychology, human rights and Russian literature and culture (2016)

Career Highlights: • 2019 Senior World team bronze medalist • Four-time Junior World team medalist • Three-time NCAA First-Team All-American (2013, 2014, 2016) • 2015 NCAA Second-Team All-American • Three-time First-Team All-Ivy (2013, 2014, 2015) A standout as a junior fencer and four-time All-American during her college career at Columbia, Jackie took the leap after graduation and committed to making a run at Olympic qualification for the Tokyo Games.

In 2019, the four-time Junior World medalist qualified for her first Senior World Championship Team and helped Team USA win a bronze.

The first-generation college graduate now balances training with serving as an account strategist at Criteo – an online advertising company based in New York.

In 2019, Jackie got engaged to her former Junior World teammate, Brian Kaneshige, who also will serve as her personal coach in Tokyo.

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WOMEN’S FOIL NICOLE ROSS Olympic Games: 2020, 2012 Current World Ranking: No. 14 Hometown: New York City, N.Y. Current Residence: New York City, N.Y. Age: 32 Club: New York Athletic Club College: Bachelor’s degree in art history from Columbia (2013) Career Highlights: • 2018 Senior World Team Champion • Three-time Senior World team medalist (2019 – Bronze, 2018 – Gold, 2017 – Silver) • 2010 NCAA Champion • Three-time All-American A member of the first U.S. Women’s Foil Team to win a Junior World Championship title in 2009, Nicole went on to qualify for her first Olympic Team in 2012 and has become a keystone of the squad, helping lead the team to three straight medals at the Senior World Championships from 2017-2019, including the team’s first ever Senior World title in 2018.

As a college fencer, Nicole won NCAAs in 2010 for Columbia and has brought her experience to coaching roles in the NCAA ranks, including serving as an assistant coach at Cornell University from 2016-2018 and now serves as a volunteer assistant at Harvard.

At the end of the Olympic qualifying period in December of 2019, Nicole tore her ACL in competition, but returned to the international circuit in January, competing in three international events before the COVID-19 shutdown. In May of 2020, Nicole underwent reconstructive surgery and began rehabilitation in preparation for Tokyo, earning her qualification when competition resumed in March of 2021.

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WOMEN’S FOIL SABRINA MASSIALAS Olympic Games: 2020 (Replacement Athlete) Current World Ranking: No. 68 Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.

Current Residence: San Francisco, Calif.

Age: 24 Club: Massialas Foundation College: Bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Notre Dame (2019)

Career Highlights: • 2016 Junior World Champion (Individual) • 2015 Junior World Champion (Team) • First U.S. fencer ever to win a Youth Olympic Games gold medal (2014) • Four-time NCAA All-American (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016) • Two-time ACC Champion (2017, 2016) Sabrina grew up as the daughter of three-time Olympian Greg Massialas and the younger sister of Alexander Massialas, but she has become one of the nation’s most promising young fencers in her own right. Following back-to-back silver medal wins at the 2013 and 2014 Cadet World Championships, in 2014, Sabrina anchored the women’s foil team to its first gold medal at the Junior Worlds since 2009.

At 17, she qualified for her first Senior World Team represented the United States at the 2014 Senior World Championships in Kazan, Russia in the team event. Later that summer, Sabrina made history when she became the first U.S. athlete in any weapon ever to win gold at the Youth Olympic Games. In 2016, Sabrina brought home individual gold and team silver from the Junior World Championships.

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MEN’S SABER ELI DERSHWITZ Olympic Games: 2020, 2016 Current World Ranking: No. 2 Hometown: Sherborn, Mass.

Current Residence: Sherborn, Mass.

Age: 25 Club: Zeta Fencing Academy College: Bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard (2019) Career Highlights: • 2018 Senior World silver medalist • 2018 Overall World Cup Champion • First U.S. men’s saber fencer to win Overall World Cup title • Eight-time World Cup circuit medalist • Two-time NCAA Champion (2017, 2018) Eli followed older brother Philip into fencing and took to the sport immediately.

Eli, who says he is motivated by his coach and family, was the youngest member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Fencing Team, earning a position on Team USA at just 19 years old and going on to make history as the first U.S. men’s saber fencer to earn the 2017-18 Overall World Cup title after his silver medal finish at the Senior Worlds that season.

Now a volunteer assistant coach at Harvard, Eli won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2017 and 2018. As a junior, Eli won silver at the 2012 Junior World Championships and bronze in 2013 where he became the first U.S. men’s saber fencer to win back-to-back medals at the event. In 2013, Eli represented Team USA at the Senior Worlds where he was the youngest member of the U.S. team. In 2015, Eli won gold medals at both the Pan American Championships and Pan American Games and concluded his junior career with an individual Junior World gold.

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MEN’S SABER DARYL HOMER Olympic Games: 2020, 2016 (Individual Silver), 2012 Current World Ranking: No. 17 Hometown: Bronx, N.Y. Current Residence: Bronx, N.Y. Age: 31 Club: Peter Westbrook Foundation College: Bachelor’s degree in marketing from St. John’s University (2013)

Career Highlights: • First U.S. men’s saber fencer to win an individual silver medal at the Olympic Games since 1904 • First U.S. man to win a medal in saber at the Senior World Championships (2015) • Two-time NCAA Champion (2010, 2011) • Three-time World Cup circuit medalist • Two-time Pan American Champion (2011, 2017) Daryl read about fencing in a dictionary when he was five years old and says he begged his mother to let him take up the sport. Homer’s mother, Juliette Smith, looked up fencing clubs in the phone book and found the New York Fencer’s Club. The family showed up to practice on a Saturday, met six-time Olympian Peter Westbrook -- founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation -- and started to fence for the club. A two-time Junior World medalist, Daryl finished sixth at the 2012 Olympic Games and made history in 2015 when he won a silver medal at the Senior World Championships -- becoming the first U.S. man ever to win a medal in saber at the event. One year later, he won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, the first men’s saber individual medal since 1984 and the first silver since 1904. He is just the fourth U.S. man ever to win an individual men’s saber medal at the Games.

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MEN’S SABER ANDREW MACKIEWICZ Olympic Games: 2020 Current World Ranking: No. 93 Hometown: Westwood, Mass.

Current Residence: Westwood Mass.

Age: 25 Club: Zeta Fencing Academy College: Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Penn State Career Highlights: • Two-time NCAA Champion (2015, 2016) • 2013 Junior World team silver medalist • 2012 Cadet World silver medalist • 2019 Pan Am Games Team Champion • Three-time Senior World Team member Watching light saber scenes in Star Wars movies inspired Andrew to take up the sport, but it was the competition that got him hooked as he soon became one of the top young fencers in the nation, winning silver at his Cadet World Championships debut in 2012. By 2014, Andrew earned a position on his first Senior World Team as an 18 year old and would go on to represent the United States at three Senior World Championships before qualifying for Tokyo.

A two-time NCAA Champion for Penn State, Andrew is interested in pursuing a career in the music and entertainment industry.

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MEN’S SABER KHALIL THOMPSON Olympic Games: 2020 (Replacement Athlete) Current World Ranking: No. 40 Hometown: Teaneck, N.J. Current Residence: Teaneck, N.J. Age: 24 Club: Peter Westbrook Foundation College: Current student at New Jersey Institute of Technology, also studied at Penn State

Career Highlights: • 2019 Pan American Champion • 2019 Senior World Team member • 2017 Junior Pan Am Champion • 2021 May NAC Champion • 2017 Junior Olympic Champion At age nine, Khalil followed in the footsteps of his older sister Kamali and took up fencing – first as a foil fencer, but within a year he found his true passion for saber. Khalil would go on to fence for Penn State for his freshman year; however, he returned home to New Jersey that summer and was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression. It was the sport of fencing and his family at the Peter Westbrook Foundation that would help pull Khail through challenging times and he went on to end his junior career with both a Junior Olympic and Junior Pan American title in 2017.

After watching Kamali pursue Olympic qualification in 2016 and again for Tokyo, Khalil began competing on the senior circuit, making his Senior World debut in 2019 and qualifying for the Games with a gold medal at the final Olympic qualifier in May.

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WOMEN’S SABER MARIEL ZAGUNIS Olympic Games: 2020, 2016 (Team Bronze), 2012, 2008

(Individual Gold, Team Bronze), 2004 (Individual Gold)

Current World Ranking: No. 9 Hometown: Portland, Ore. Current Residence: Beaverton, Ore. Age: 36 Club: Oregon Fencing Alliance College: Attended Notre Dame (2004-2006) Career Highlights: • Most decorated athlete in the history of USA Fencing • Only woman from any nation to win two individual Olympic titles in women’s saber • Five-time Senior World Champion (2014 Team, 2011 Individual, 2010 Individual, 2005 Team, 2000 Team) • First U.S. fencer to medal at three Olympic Games (2004, 2008, 2016) • 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2005 FIE Senior World Cup Champion Mariel made history as a 19-year-old in 2004 when she became the first U.S. fencer to win an Olympic gold medal in 100 years after originally qualifying for the team as a replacement athlete. She is also in the history books as the first Olympic gold medalist for women’s saber, which made its Olympic debut at the 2004 Olympic Games. The four-time Senior World Champion defended her Olympic title in Beijing. The daughter of Robert and Cathy Zagunis who were both rowers on the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team, Mariel was the top-ranked fencer in the world at the conclusion of the 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons.

In October 2017, Mariel became a mother, giving birth to her daughter, Sunday Swehla. Mariel returned to competition less than six months later, placing eighth at the Seoul Grand Prix in March 2018 and adding a bronze medal at the Moscow Grand Prix in May.

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WOMEN’S SABER ELIZA STONE Olympic Games: 2020 Current World Ranking: No. 6 Hometown: Chicago, Ill. Current Residence: Princeton, N.J. Age: 30 Club: Bergen Fencing Club College: Bachelor’s degree in marketing from St. John’s University (2013)

Career Highlights: • 2018 Senior World individual bronze medalist • Three-time Senior World team medalist (Bronze – 2015, Gold – 2014, Bronze – 2013) • 2013 NCAA Champion (Individual) • 2014 Moscow Grand Prix bronze medalist (Individual) • 2014 Dakar World Cup bronze medalist (Individual) Eliza is one of three fencers in her family with all three siblings picking up the saber after their father saw a flyer in a pizza shop and wanted something his kids could do together. Little did he know that the sport would bring his three youngest children to Princeton where they won an NCAA team title together in 2013 with Eliza earning individual gold. Fencing on the European World Cup circuit for the first time in 2013, Eliza earned a top-eight finish in Gent and went on to win a silver medal at her first Pan American Championships. In 2014, Eliza was a member of the third U.S. Women’s Saber Team in history to win gold at the Senior World Championships.

After narrowly missing qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, Eliza put her plans of med school off to try again at qualifying and has been on an upward trajectory ever since, including an individual bronze medal win at the 2018 Senior Worlds.

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WOMEN’S SABER DAGMARA WOZNIAK Olympic Games: 2020, 2016 (Team Bronze), 2012 Current World Ranking: No. 28 Hometown: Avenel, N.J. Current Residence: Jersey City, N.J. Age: 33 Club: Manhattan Fencing Center College: Bachelor’s degree in biology from St. John’s University (2011) Career Highlights: • 2016 Olympic team bronze medalist • Five-time Senior World team medalist (2015 Bronze, 2014 Gold, 2013 Bronze, 2012 Bronze, 2011 Bronze) • 2015 Pan American Games Champion (Ind. and Team) • Seven-time World Cup medalist (Ind.) • Four-time NCAA All-American Born in Poland, Wozniak came to the United States with her family as a 1-year-old and began fencing by the age of nine. Dagmara excelled as a junior athlete where she earned three team medals at the Junior World Championships and is now ranked as one of the top 10 saber fencers in the world. After traveling to Beijing as a replacement athlete for the 2008 Olympic Games, Wozniak qualified for her first team as an individual in 2012 and placed eighth in her Olympic debut.

After winning bronze medals in the team competition at the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Senior World Championships, Wozniak won gold with Team USA in 2014. The gold medal win marked the team’s first title at the event since 2005.

Wozniak followed up a 2015 Senior World Championships team bronze with a bronze medal in the team competition at the 2016 Olympic Games.

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WOMEN’S SABER FRANCESCA RUSSO Olympic Games: 2020 (Replacement Athlete) Current World Ranking: No. 85 Hometown: Wayne, N.J. Current Residence: Queens, N.Y. Age: 25 Club: Bergen Fencing Club College: Bachelor’s of marketing from Notre Dame (2018) Career Highlights: • Two-time Junior World team medalist (2014 Bronze, 2013 Gold) • 2012 Cadet World silver medalist • Two-time NCAA Champion (2015, 2017) • 2017 Pan Am Championships team silver medalist • 2016 USA Fencing Div I National Championships silver medalist Following in the footsteps of her older sister, Jess Russo, Fran excelled quickly at saber fencing, representing Team USA for the first time as a 15 year old at the 2011 Cadet World Championships. After a bronze medal win at the 2012 Cadet Worlds, Fran went on to earn two more World medals to end her junior career, taking team gold in 2013 and bronze in 2014.

At Notre Dame, Fran made her presence known quickly, winning NCAAs as a freshman in 2015 and repeating 2017.

Fran currently balances training with serving as an associate media planner for CMI Media Group in New York.

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MEN’S EPEE JAKE HOYLE Olympic Games: 2020 Current World Ranking: No. 52 Hometown: Philadelphia, Pa. Current Residence: New York City, N.Y. Age: 27 Club: New York Athletic Club College: Bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia (2016) Career Highlights: • 2019 Vancouver World Cup individual bronze medalist • 2019 Doha Grand Prix bronze medalist • 2018 Pan Am Championships bronze medalist • 2019 USA Fencing Division I National Champion • Two-time ind. NCAA Champion (2015, 2016) It was a middle school PE class where Jake would first learn the sport that would change his life. While most Olympians were top college recruits, Jake was recommended to fence at Columbia by a competing coach and joined the team as a walk on with something to prove. By his junior year, he won an individual NCAA title which he would defend the following year before graduating in 2016.

Jake began competing on the international circuit for the first time in 2017 and went on to qualify for back-to-back Senior World Teams in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, he won bronze medals at Vancouver World Cup and Doha Grand Prix – making him the first U.S. men’s epee fencer to win two individual medals on the circuit in more than a decade.

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MEN’S EPEE CURTIS MCDOWALD Olympic Games: 2020 Current World Ranking: No. 40 Hometown: Jamaica, N.Y. Current Residence: Jamaica, N.Y. Age: 25 Club: Peter Westbrook Foundation College: St. John’s University (2015-2018) Career Highlights: • 2019 Buenos Aires World Cup bronze medalist • Top-eight at the 2018 Senior World Championships • Top-eight at the 2018 Paris World Cup • 2018 Pan Am Championships bronze medalist • Two-time NCAA All-American A deputy warden at Riker’s, Curtis’s mother first learned about fencing through the Peter Westbrook Foundation and saw the sport as a way for her son to have new opportunities. Curtis started fencing at 12 through a program designed to introduce the sport to inner city youth and went on to compete at the Junior World Championships and earn All-American honors at St. John’s.

Curtis made himself known on the senior circuit when he earned a topeight finish at his first Senior World Championships in 2018 and reached the podium at the Buenos Aires World Cup with bronze in 2019.

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MEN’S EPEE YEISSER RAMIREZ Olympic Games: 2020 Current World Ranking: No. 137 Hometown: Guantanamo, Cuba Current Residence: Flushing, N.Y. Age: 34 Club: Peter Westbrook Foundation Career Highlights: • 2014 USA Fencing Division I National Champion • 2019 October NAC Champion • 2015 Senior World Team member • Top-32 at the 2019 Berne World Cup • 2016 Sofia Satellite Tournament Champion Yeisser moved to the United States at 21 years old after coming home one day to be told by his father that he had registered Ramirez for the Cuban lottery program as a three-year-old and he had been drawn to receive a visa from the United States. Yeisser, who learned to fence epee barefoot in Guantanamo, had qualified for the Cuban National Team, but chose to come to the United States to pursue his dreams and represented Team USA for the first time at the Senior World Championships in 2015.

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MEN’S EPEE ALEN HADZIC Olympic Games: 2020 (Replacement Athlete) Current World Ranking: No. 140 Hometown: West Orange, N.J. Current Residence: West Orange, N.J. Age: 29 Club: Fencers’ Club College: Bachelor’s in economics from Columbia (2015) Career Highlights: • 2019 Geneva Satellite Tournament bronze medalist • Three-time Division I NAC Champion • 2015 Division I July Challenge Champion • 2012 NCAA Championships silver medalist • 2010 Junior World Team member A 2010 Junior World Team member, Alen’s breakout win on the senior circuit came with a gold medal at the 2015 July Challenge. The finish would be the first of four Division I titles for Alen who qualified the replacement athlete position on the U.S. Men’s Epee Team with a gold medal win at the 2021 May NAC.

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WOMEN’S EPEE COURTNEY HURLEY Olympic Games: 2020, 2016, 2012 (Team Bronze) Current World Ranking: No. 24 Hometown: San Antonio, Texas Current Residence: Houston, Texas Age: 30 Club: New York Athletic Club College: Bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in film, television and theater with a supplementary major in computer applications (2013)

Career Highlights: • 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist • 2018 Senior World Team Champion • 2018 Senior World individual bronze medalist • Four-time individual World Cup circuit medalist • 2013 NCAA Champion (Individual) Coached by her father, Bob Hurley, for much of her career Courtney qualified for her first U.S. team as a 14-year-old on the 2005 Junior and Cadet World Team and has been a member of every Senior World Championship Team since 2006.

Courtney qualified for the 2012 Olympic Team alongside her older sister, Kelley Hurley, who represented Team USA at the 2008 Games. The two made history together when the U.S. Women’s Epee Team won bronze in London – the first ever podium finish at the Olympic Games for the squad. The Hurley sisters have competed on 12 Senior and five Junior World Teams together – including the 2018 Senior World Championships where the U.S. Women’s Epee Team won its first-ever gold medal at the event. Just days earlier, Courtney made history as an individual, winning bronze as the first U.S. epee fencer – male or female – to win a Senior World medal in an individual event.

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WOMEN’S EPEE KELLEY HURLEY Olympic Games: 2020, 2016, 2012 (Team Bronze), 2008 Current World Ranking: No. 16 Hometown: San Antonio, Texas Current Residence: Houston, Texas Age: 33 Club: New York Athletic Club College: First-year student at St. James School of Medicine, Bachelor’s degree in design from the University of Notre Dame (2011)

Career Highlights: • 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist • 2018 Senior World Team Champion • 2015 Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix bronze medalist • 2008 Junior World Champion • 2008 NCAA Champion Kelley learned how to fence on a strip her father, Bob Hurley, built in the backyard and would spend much of her childhood traveling to tournaments with her parents and younger sister Courtney Hurley. Kelley just missed qualifying for the 2004 Olympic Games as 16 year old, but locked in an individual slot on Team USA in 2008, edging her younger sister in the same year that she won gold at the Junior World Championships and earned an NCAA title for Notre Dame.

Together, Kelley has competed on the National Team with Courtney since Kelley was 17 – traveling the world together as well as living and training together, first at Notre Dame and later in Houston. In 2012, Kelley qualified for her second team as a replacement athlete. Hurley not only fulfilled her dream of competing at the Olympic Games with her sister, but the two won bronze in the team event as members of the first U.S. Women’s Epee Team ever to earn an Olympic medal. In 2018, Kelley and Courtney returned to the podium at the Senior World Championships where they earned the first Senior World title in U.S. women’s epee history.

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WOMEN’S EPEE KAT HOLMES Olympic Games: 2020, 2016 (Team Bronze) Current World Ranking: No. 22 Hometown: Washington, D.C. Current Residence: Princeton, N.J. Age: 28 Club: New York Athletic Club College: Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Princeton (2017) Career Highlights: • 2018 Senior World Team Champion • Two-time individual Pan Am Games Champion • Two-time Junior World team bronze medalist (2010, 2012) • Recipient of the International Fencing Federation’s Fair Play Award (2018) • Four-time NCAA All-American Kat started fencing when she was nine following her interest in reading books about the middle ages and knights in shining armor. She qualified for her first national team at 15-years-old and won a silver medal at the Cadet Worlds in her first World Championship appearance in 2009.

A member of the Senior World Team since 2013, Kat won both individual and team titles at her first Pan American Games in 2015 and defended both titles at the 2019 Pan Am Games. In 2018, Kat made history as a member of the first U.S. Women’s Epee Team to medal at the Senior World Championships, where she anchored the team to the gold medal. Prior to the postponement of the Olympic Games, Holmes was accepted into medical school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and deferred enrollment until after the conclusion of the Tokyo Games.

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WOMEN’S EPEE ANNA VAN BRUMMEN Olympic Games: 2020 (Replacement Athlete) Current World Ranking: No. 77 Hometown: Santa Barbara, Calif.

Current Residence: Santa Barbara Age: 26 Club: Alliance Fencing Academy College: Master’s degree in geophysics from ETH Zurich (2019), Bachelor’s degree in geological and earth sciences from Princeton University (2017)

Career Highlights: • 2016 Suzhou World Cup Champion (Individual) • Two-time World Cup team medalist • 2015 Pan Am Games Team Champion • Three-time Senior World Team member (2014, 2015, 2017) • 2017 NCAA Champion (Individual) Van Brummen’s first fencing class came when she went along with a friend after a sleepover. While the friend eventually gave up the sport, van Brummen found her niche and early success as a young fencer, qualifying for three Junior World Championship Teams and winning bronze in 2012. After competing at both the 2014 and 2015 Senior Worlds, van Brummen missed qualifying for Rio, but rebounded quickly with a win at the 2016 Suzhou World Cup just months after the Games. The win would make her the first U.S. women’s epee fencer in the modern era to earn an individual World Cup title.

After ending her Princeton career with gold at the 2017 NCAAs, van Brummen moved to Switzerland to earn a Master’s in geophysics. While she considered retiring, instead, she trained in Switzerland throughout grad school and returned to the United States in 2020, ultimately moving to Santa Barbara to accept a position as an environmental scientist for Blue Tomorrow.

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By Kristen Henneman

A

lthough he wasn’t highly recruited out of high school, Jake Hoyle is currently one of Team USA’s best epee fencers. After walking on to the Columbia Team and winning two individual NCAA championships, Hoyle decided to continue in the sport. In 2019, he became the first U.S. men’s epee fencer to win two individual medals on the World Cup circuit during the same season since 2010, and now in 2021, he will represent the United States in Tokyo as he competes at his first Olympic Games.

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JAKE HOYLE TRAVELED TO SEVERAL NATIONAL PARKS DURING THE PANDEMIC, INCLUDING GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK.

JAKE WON BRONZE AT THE DOHA GRAND PRIX, BECOMING THE FIRST U.S. MEN’S EPEE FENCER TO WIN A GRAND PRIX MEDAL SINCE 2011.

JAKE WON BACK-TO-BACK NCAA TITLES IN 2015 AND 2016 WHILE FENCING AT COLUMBIA.

Has it sunk in yet that you’re going to be an Olympian?

I do not think it has sunk in yet. There’s still a lot that needs to happen to get there. So I’m just focused on getting myself ready technically and physically and making sure I don’t get COVID. [Laughs].

Once my tests are negative and once I step on the plane, then I think it’ll sink in. But for now, I’m just trying to stay focused and make sure I get there in one piece.

After qualifying, what have you been doing to prepare?

It’s my first Olympics, so I benefit a lot from the fact that my coach Aladar Kogler has had students so far I think in 11 Olympics, so I’ll be one of his Olympians in his 12th Olympics, so he’s seen it all.

So I’m leaning on him a lot in terms of what we need to do and how much of the training is continuing what we’ve been doing for the past five years and how much is new, specific just for the Games.

It’s a mix. Maybe I’ll think differently when I get back, but I kind of feel like the Olympics is just a fencing tournament, just like any other fencing tournament. I’m just preparing for it like I would for a really important fencing tournament. I’m not trying to make too crazy, wild changes … What I’ve been doing has been working. I’ve achieved very high success at international tournaments before, so preparation very similar to that.

I keep a training log of what I do every day, so normally just on the subway on my way home after a session, just in a note and write down what I did that day – how many 15-touch bouts I fenced, how long was my lesson, did I do any conditioning that day, and if so, what was it. Just quickly jot it down. And I’ve been doing that for probably eight years at this point, since I started at school at Columbia. So now in the last two months leading up to the Olympics, I’ve gone back and looked at what I was doing the two months before I won medals at a Grand Prix or World Cup, and I’m just doing that.

So that’s informing what I’m doing now to see if I can replicate that prep and then that peak.

Is there anything you’ve noticed that was different in your training before some of those events when you won medals?

Yeah. Just the number of times a week that I was conditioning was something that I’m looking at here. Leading up to those, it was a higher volume of longer cardio, bike ride or rowing machine, something like that after practice that I was doing after practice. So I’m just trying to get as many of those in as I can.

You’ve said you watched the Olympics a lot growing up with your family and that going was your dream. Was there a certain point where you realized it was realistic for you?

In high school, the goal was always to get recruited to go and play DI. And then in school, the focus was doing well on the Columbia Team and being a starter, but I remember I had a conversation with Aladar at one point and … he sent me this long message, like, ‘Don’t worry. Let’s trust this process and if we work together for the next two quads, you can win an Olympic medal with me and believe that.’

And I showed it to my friend and I was like, ‘Ha, look. Aladar’s saying that he can help me win a medal. That’s pretty funny.’

And my friend just looked at me dead in the face and he was like, ‘What? What’s funny about that? You could do that.’ And I was like, ‘Huh, okay.’ [Laughs]. At that point, it became less of a maybe one day

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I’ll go to the Olympic when people asked to yeah, that’s what I’m doing … It takes a very different level of internal commitment and personal commitment for you to say, ‘Yeah, that’s what I’m going for.’ Because it gives you no way out. It’s either you make it or you don’t at that point. You put a lot more pressure on yourself once you commit to that and that conversation with my coach back in probably sophomore year of college was really when I first did that.

Other than fencing, what is your favorite sport to watch at the Games?

I love watching table tennis. I used to play a lot of table tennis with my family and it’s crazy what they can do. It’s really unbelievable. It’s a completely different sport. Everyone has played ping pong. Everyone has watched ping pong, but the level at the Games is just so above and beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed.

It’s really incredible.

U.S. men’s epee hasn’t had a team at the Games since 2004, but qualified a team for Tokyo. Talk to me about the focus of qualifying a team.

I think a lot of that needs to be chalked up to the Rio 2016 Olympian Jason Pryor, who made the Games individually in Rio and then came back basically outwardly saying that his sole goal for 2020 was to finally qualify a men’s epee team. That had such a huge impact. Just him saying that. When I first started on the team in early 2017 in January, when I showed up at the tournament, that’s what everyone was talking about because that’s what Jason was talking about and everyone was looking up to him. We followed his lead on that and it set a culture where you show up at a World Cup and it’s all about the team, and it’s all about qualifying the team. And you fence the individual event to put yourself in a position, but at the end of the day, right from the beginning in 2017 we were counting the FIE point differential between us and Venezuela because that’s what we thought would get us to qualify.

Every single tournament, we were busting ourselves fencing on the backside — just an absolute bloodbath on the backside – no video replay, side room, refs who are totally checked out and we’re fencing for our lives, for 12th place, to get one more FIE point than Venezuela so we could qualify. I wouldn’t really have known how important that was if he wasn’t there telling us and he was kind of like the team captain in that way. Looking back on the five years and how everything played out, those backside events were so, so, so important to our seeding and so important to put us in the position that we were in in the qualifying events: Worlds in Budapest and then Zonals and all of those World Cups that allowed us to eventually qualify … Jason took the driver’s seat and set the culture and I don’t think we would have qualified without that.

You started fencing in middle school. What was it like having fencing as part of P.E. and did you fall in love with it right away?

Having fencing in P.E. was really awesome and so unique to think about it now, but back when I was in middle school, no one really thought it was something super special. You were just like, ‘Yeah, that’s normal. We’ll play dodgeball and then we’ll learn how to play softball and then we’ll do fencing and then we’ll do swimming.’

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That was just part of the routine, so we didn’t really think about it.

But to be honest with you, I always wanted to join that fencing club. I don’t know what it was, but I just knew I wanted to do that, so after I had done it in gym, then I was able to join the club. But I always knew I wanted to fence. It was great, having that club at our school, right there. I don’t know if I ever would’ve been able to fence if we didn’t just have it available in the cafeteria right after school. Pixie Roane – she runs a great club and I’ve been in touch with some of my old teammates from back then in the last few months who have reached out after I qualified and we were just reminiscing. We had so much fun. I talked to Pixie recently and she’s very proud of me and I’m planning on going back and fencing with them, with the Panther Club, in the fall. So we’re still very much in touch and connected, even after all these years.

If you had to fence foil or saber, which would you choose?

I have to choose? I can’t just quit? [Laughs]. I’d really rather quit. I would refuse.

Being not highly recruited out of high school, what did it do for you mentally to walk on to the Columbia Fencing Team and then win two individual NCAA titles?

I always had a chip on my shoulder I feel like and it’s funny how some people are viewed as frontrunners and some are not and I don’t really know why that happens, but for me, I just always felt like I had something to prove. I was a walk-on and I didn’t get a recruiting spot, so to me, when I start at school as an unrecruited walk-on, even though I believe in myself, I’m like, ‘Yeah, watch this.

I’m going to be a starter. The guys you did recruit? I want to take their spot. I want to start.’

Even after I won NCAAs the first time, I remember hearing coaches and just some talk and rumors around, ‘See? You can win NCAAs because anyone can win NCAAs because Jake won NCAAs. It’s a fluke. It could happen to anyone.’ I’m like, ‘All right.’

[Laughs]. Even going into the second NCAAs, I remember there was a prediction who would make the four. I wasn’t even in there and I had won the year before. I’m like, ‘I just won this tournament and I’m not even on the list. This is ridiculous.’ [Laughs]. Chip’s back on the shoulder and now you gotta prove them wrong again.

Win again. And just take that kind of stuff as motivation and it’s always worked well for me.

You didn’t go to a Senior World Cup until after you graduated. What made you keep going?

Winning NCAAs for the second time for sure. Just validation through results. Winning again, I was like, ‘All right. You’ve got something really special here. You gotta see how far you can take it.’ And I don’t know what I would have decided if I hadn’t won, but after winning again, it just wasn’t even a choice at that point.

When you won back to back medals on the circuit, how did that feel?

That was amazing. Everyone was really happy for me too, even amongst the 12 guys who travel. We’re kind of all gunning for the same spots, so we are a team and we do have camaraderie together, but we are also competitors, so it’s an interesting dynamic

that we have. But the guys were so proud of me and every single person that traveled to those events stayed the whole time to watch, all the way through the semifinals, so that felt great. I felt a lot of support from the other men’s epee fencers.

If you could fence any fencer from any weapon, any time period, who would it be and why?

I think I’m going to give you a boring answer in that I would want to fence with Pavel Kolobkov, just because he’s basically known as the greatest men’s epee fencer to ever live.

So I never got a chance to be on the strip with him … He’s just such a legend. He’s won so many golds and basically everybody acknowledges that he was a cut above everyone, so I’d love to do 15 with him.

Quick Facts CLUB: New York Athletic Club COACH: Aladar Kogler SCHOOL: Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in Economics / Business Management (2016)

So you visited a bunch of national parks during COVID-19. Where did you road trip to?

It was great. We were in Big Sky, Montana. There’s no national park there, but we did a lot of hiking there. We were in Glacier National Park, which is practically in Canada, in Montana all the way north. We did Yellowstone National Park. We did Joshua Tree. We did Acadia up in Maine. We did Shenandoah in DC. And we did Grand Teton. We hit a lot. So part of that trip I did with just my girlfriend Leila, who I met at Columbia. She was on the track and field team. So we did a road trip up to Acadia and saw that just us and we met up with my boss and my boss’ best friend basically and that’s when we did Teton and Yellowstone and Glacier. From there, me and my girlfriend linked up with my sister and we did Joshua Tree and we drove out to Shenandoah and met up with my girlfriend’s sister. So it was just a giant road trip with a bunch of different people involved, but we got to see basically the whole country. It was great. At that time, we couldn’t train. Our clubs were closed, so we were driving on the weekends, working during the week and working out at night and doing the parks when we could. It was a lot of fun. You’d never get to do something like that. Only in a coronavirus year would that be possible … It was a good way to keep the stress low because we were speculating, ‘Are they going to cancel the Olympics? What happens if you get COVID? Are you never going to be able to compete again?’ It was just like, get out of the city. Take your mind off of it and try to distract yourself.

Where’s the top place you’d like to visit that you haven’t been to yet?

There’s a tropical paradise off the eastern coast of Africa near Madagascar called the Seychelles. There’s like eight different islands there and basically it looks like the coolest place on earth. That’s where I’d go.

CURRENT LOCATION: New York, N.Y. BEST RESULTS: Bronze at the 2019 Doha Grand Prix Bronze at the 2019 Vancouver World Cup Bronze at the 2018 Pan American Championships Two-time team medalist at the Pan American Championships Two-time individual NCAA Champion

GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Winning the bronze medal at the 2019 Doha Grand Prix

FAVORITE FENCING ITEM:

His 2004 Adidas

Adistars (shoes)

JOCK OR GEEK: Jock TRAINING REGIMEN: Morning lesson give days per week Afternoon or evening bouting session 3-4 days per week Conditioning three days per week Strength once per week

FAVORITE DRILL: “There is a preparation drill that I do with Aladar that he teaches all of his students. We do it at the end of every lesson, but we also do it together when we’re drilling and it’s a very basic attack, no attack drill … So it’s basically like a game. You are opening with the same preparation every time, just easy extension with advance and then you have to be relaxed enough and focused enough that no matter what he chooses to do, you’ll be able to execute it properly with no hesitation and with proper technique. It can be frustrating to learn it, but once you get really good at it, it’s actually a lot of fun and I find it to be one of the most satisfying drills that we do. I finish every lesson with it.”

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U.S. PARALYMPIC FENCING

TEAM ROSTER ATHLETES CATEGORY A EPEE & SABER Shelby Jensen

(Salt Lake City, Utah / Valkyrie Fencing Club)

CATEGORY B EPEE & FOIL Ellen Geddes

(Johnson, S.C. / Shepherd Swords)

CATEGORY B EPEE & SABER Terry Hayes

(North Fort Meyers, Fla. / Southwest Florida Fencing Academy)

STAFF COACH Mickey Zeljkovic

(Huntington Valley, Pa. / Zeljkovic Fencing Academy)

TEAM LEADER Ginny Boydston (Jackson, Miss.)

FENCING SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25 Men’s Individual Saber Women’s Individual Saber Pools Begin at 9 a.m. JST/8 p.m. EDT (August 24) Semifinals Begin at 3:30 p.m. JST/2:30 a.m. EDT

THURSDAY, AUGUST 26 Men’s Individual Epee Women’s Individual Epee Pools Begin at 9 a.m. JST/8 p.m. EDT (August 25) Semifinals Begin at 5 p.m. JST/4 a.m. EDT

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27 Men’s Team Epee Women’s Team Epee Preliminaries Begin at 8:30 a.m. JST/7:30 p.m. EDT (August 26) Medal Rounds Begin at 5:30 p.m. JST/4:30 a.m. EDT

SATURDAY, AUGUST 28 Men’s Individual Foil Women’s Individual Foil Pools Begin at 9 a.m. JST/8 p.m. EDT (August 27) Semifinals Begin at 4:30 p.m. JST/3:30 a.m. EDT

SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 Men’s Team Foil Women’s Team Foil Preliminaries Begin at 8:30 a.m. JST/7:30 p.m. EDT (August 28) Medal Rounds Begin at 5:30 p.m. JST/4:30 a.m. EDT

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A

U.S. FENCERS SET TO MAKE PARALYMPIC DEBUT

trio of first-time Paralympians are ready to take on the world at the Paralympic Games August 25-29 in Tokyo, Japan.

The most athletes competing for Team USA in wheelchair fencing since 2012, Ellen Geddes (Johnson, S.C. / Shepherd Swords), Terry Hayes (North Fort Meyers, Fla. / Southwest Florida Fencing Academy) and Shelby Jensen (Salt Lake City, Utah / Valkyrie Fencing Club) are three of 96 fencers from around the globe who will compete on the world’s biggest stage.

Each will represent the United States individually as well as in the team foil and epee events, in which Team USA ranks No. 8 and No. 12, respectively. The 2020 Games mark the first time the United States will compete in a team event since 2004 when it took seventh in both women’s epee and foil.

Ellen Geddes narrowly missed out on the 2016 Paralympic Games, but has been Team USA’s top competitor ever since.

Qualified in Category B epee and foil, the four-time World Championship Team member currently ranks No. 12 in foil and No. 13 in epee in the Paralympic Qualification Rankings.

During the qualification period, Geddes earned a top-eight finish in both weapons at the 2018 Kyoto World Cup as well as in epee at the 2019 IWAS World Games.

At the 2019 World Championships, Geddes put in another respectable result, taking ninth in both epee and foil.

A competitive equestrian growing up, Geddes broke her back in a car accident in 2011 and suffered a complete spinal cord injury at T10. While rehabbing, she discovered wheelchair fencing.

Since then, Geddes has medaled internationally, including bronze at the 2014 Montreal Grand Prix and the Pan American Championships in Category A Epee in 2018. She also is a consistent podium finisher on the North American Cup circuit with nine gold medals to her name.

In the category A events, Team USA will be represented by Shelby Jensen.

Team USA’s youngest fencer, Jensen fences all three weapons, but will be competing in her two favorite in Tokyo: epee and saber.

The 2019 World Team member who has right side hemiparesis (or weakness in the right side) after having a stroke at age seven discovered wheelchair fencing in 2016 while volunteering for a wheelchair sports camp.

She quickly burst onto the scene nationally, winning seven gold medals in her career, including a sweep of the national championships in her hometown of Salt Lake City in 2019.

Ranked No. 25 in saber and No. 28 in epee in the Paralympic Qualification Rankings, Jensen won silver in saber and secured a top-eight finish in epee at the 2018 Pan American Championships.

In 2019, she won bronze at the U23 Wheelchair World Championships. She also has top-16 finishes in both epee and saber on the World Cup circuit.

Also competing in epee and saber, but in Category B, Terry Hayes will be the oldest fencer in the field and will be 63 when she takes the strip in Tokyo.

Hayes – who found parafencing after being diagnosed with Primary Cerebellar Degeneration, a progressive brain disease, and has Systemic Lupus – played varsity lacrosse while studying at Old Dominion University, served as a heavy equipment operator in the Army and was an early childhood special education teacher.

No. 22 in saber and No. 31 in epee, Hayes claimed a top-16 result at the 2018 Pan American Championships in saber. The 2019 October NAC bronze medalist in epee has consistently earned top-32 results internationally, including at her first Worlds in 2019 in epee and saber.

Photo Credit:Sanga Park

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PARAFENCING ELLEN GEDDES Paralympic Games: 2020 Weapons: Epee and Foil (Category B) Current World Ranking: No. 12 (Foil), No. 13 (Epee) Hometown: Aiken, S.C. Current Residence: Johnson, S.C. Age: 33 Clubs: Shepherd Swords and Augusta Fencers Club College: Bachelor’s degree in religion and psychology from Presbyterian College

Career Highlights: • Four-time World Team member • Nine-time gold medalist on the North American Cup circuit • Bronze medalist at the 2018 Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Category A epee) • Bronze medalist at the 2014 Montreal Grand Prix (Category B epee) • Top-eight finishes in epee and foil at the 2018 Kyoto World Cup, in epee at the 2019 IWAS World Games (Category B) A former competitive equestrian, Ellen broke her back in a car accident in 2011 and suffered a complete spinal cord injury at T10. While rehabbing at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Ellen met National Team member Dennis Aspy who she says “offered me a weapon and a chance to stab people.”

Within a year, Ellen had qualified for her first Wheelchair World Championship Team and in 2014 she won her first medal on the World Cup circuit in Montreal. Ellen, who will compete at her first Paralympic Games in Tokyo, says she has “always been an athlete, and I enjoy pushing myself to be better and progressing in everything I do.”

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PARAFENCING SHELBY JENSEN Paralympic Games: 2020 Weapons: Epee and Saber (Category A) Current World Ranking: No. 25 (Saber), No. 28 (Epee) Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah Current Residence: Salt Lake City, Utah Age: 20 Clubs: Valkyrie Fencing Club and Salt City Swords Academy College: Associates Degree in applied sciences Career Highlights: • 2019 World Team member • Seven-time gold medalist on the North American Cup circuit, including three-time national champion • Bronze medalist at the 2019 U23 Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Epee) • Two-time medalist at the 2018 Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Category A) • Top-16 finishes in both epee and saber on the World Cup circuit Shelby began fencing when she was 15 years old. Volunteering at a wheelchair sports camp, Jensen – who had a stroke at seven years old – was intrigued by the sport and when she gave it a try, he was immediately hooked.

Loving that you can “stab another person or hit another person and not get yelled at,” Jensen began fencing all three weapons. The following year in 2017, Shelby began competing on the national circuit and won her first gold medal at the October North American Cup. After taking two medals at the 2019 Pan American Wheelchair Championships, Jensen made her first Senior World Team in 2019 and won bronze at the 2019 U23 Wheelchair World Championships in epee.

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PARAFENCING TERRY HAYES Paralympic Games: 2020 Weapons: Epee and Saber (Category B) Current World Ranking: No. 22 (Saber), No. 31 (Epee) Hometown: North Fort Meyers, Fla. Current Residence: North Fort Meyers, Fla. Age: 63 Club: Southwest Florida Fencing Academy and Zeljkovic Fencing Academy College: Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Special Education from Old

Dominion University (1997); Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education K-6 from Atlantic Christian College (1990)

Career Highlights: • 2019 World Team member • Bronze at the 2019 October North American Cup in epee • Fifth at the USA Fencing National Championships in foil and saber • 10th at the 2018 Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Category A Saber) • Three top-eight finishes in team on the World Cup circuit As a kid, Terry and her sister would pretend to compete at the Olympic Games in their backyard. A member of the varsity lacrosse team at Old Dominion University, Terry served in the Army was an early childhood special education teacher.

After being diagnosed with Primary Cerebellar Degeneration, a progressive brain disease, and becoming a fulltime wheelchair user, Terry wanted to remain involved in sports. Doing a Google search for wheelchair sports, Terry discovered parafencing with a video of Lauryn DeLuca fencing in at the 2016 Paralympic Games. She’s been fencing ever since and will be the oldest Category B fencer at the Tokyo Games.

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By Kristen Henneman

Shelby Jensen Jensen A

fter having a stroke at just seven years old, Shelby Jensen started fencing five years ago. In just a short time, Jensen has become one of the country’s top parafencers, winning a National Championship in all three weapons and medaling internationally at the Pan American Championships. Now 20 years old, Jensen will check one of her biggest goals off her list this summer and become a Paralympian, competing in individual Category A epee and saber, as well as the team event in epee and foil.

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The Games are only a couple months away now. How excited are you?

Very excited. This will be my first time at the Paralympics, so I can’t wait.

What does it mean to you to represent the United States?

What it means to me is an opportunity to represent my country and show the other fencers my skills and show my county my skills and support my team.

Before you started fencing, did you play other sports growing up?

Yes. After I had my stroke, my parents put me immediately into the Special Olympics because of rehab. They thought it was more rehab for me, but I thought it was more fun. After that, I started with adaptive sports, and then I happened upon wheelchair fencing.

What sports were you playing?

I was doing basketball, biking, archery, baseball and soccer.

You referenced that you had a stroke as a kid. How old were you and what was it like after the stroke happened?

So I had my stroke when I was seven. It was caused by a brain aneurysm and when they went in to do brain surgery on me and they clipped off the aneurysm, I actually had another stroke that paralyzed my right side. The therapy and the doctors afterwards for three years straight every day, I would see them. They had to make sure I wasn’t prone to have another stroke and I was get the full capability of my hand and my leg because at seven years old, you depend on your hand and leg to do stuff. So that was really hard for me to know at first, but nothing has stopped me since.

LEFT: SHELBY WITH HER FELLOW 2020 PARALYMPIC TEAMMATES ELLEN GEDDES AND TERRY HAYES AS WELL AS 2016 PARALYMPIAN LAURYN DELUCA. ABOVE: SHELBY WITH HER PARENTS AND TERRY AT A CAMP IN PHILADELPHIA.

And you had to switch from being right handed to left handed?

Yes. I was basically like a 7-year-old toddler again. I had to relearn how to do everything with my left side.

What is it like to have to relearn how to do everything with your other hand?

I can’t remember everything from when I was seven, but basically they put me into therapy to learn how to do everything – to learn how to talk and swallow again, to learn how to write, to learn how to do everything. They basically threw me into therapy and said, ‘Here you go. Try your best.’ And I did and I’m 100% independent right now.

So how did you get started in the sport?

The summer of 2016, my mom didn’t want me staying home watching Netflix because I was 15 and I was at the age that I was too old to do intern stuff but too young to do actual work. So she emailed one of the gals I used to do archery with and said, ‘Hey, can Shelby volunteer for a couple days this summer?’ So she said, ‘Sure,’ and I volunteered for a wheelchair sports camp and one of the wheelchair sports was wheelchair fencing. They saw I had a disability – it was actually Utah Fencing Foundation. So Utah Fencing Foundation saw I had a disability and they had me sit down and try it because they thought I would be a great addition to their foundation and be a be a great addition to doing Nationals and stuff. I absolutely fell in love with it. I’m actually working for Salt Lake City Parks and Rec Adaptive Programs and that’s where they found me.

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Oh nice! What are you doing with them right now?

I’m just adaptive staff. I help with the adaptive programs like the wheelchair sports camp and bowling, etc. with the mentally and physically disabled.

What was it about fencing for you that stuck?

I would have to say that you can stab another person or hit another person and not get yelled at.

SHELBY AND HER FIANCE JARRED AT THE [Laughs]. But for real, the SNOWBIRD RESORT IN UTAH. mental game. The mental game was it for me. Because you have to be smarter than your opponent – you have to play smarter. You have to think three steps ahead of your opponent, and that’s what I liked about the sport is that you have to basically predict what the other person is thinking before they actually do it.

When you think about starting five years ago, talk to me about the journey from first trying the sport to now qualifying for the Paralympic Team.

It’s amazing. It’s unbelievable. I never thought I would be doing this five years ago. When I started training and actually fencing, my thoughts were like, ‘Okay, this is cool. I could see me doing this every week one or two days a week.’ And I was doing it out of a folding chair then. And then Utah Fencing Foundation actually said, ‘You could go to Nationals in Baltimore in 2017 and you can try it. You can try the nationally competitive route. I’m like, ‘Okay.’

So then we got me my fencing chair, all the required FIE gear and I was doing all three weapons seven months into it. So at my first competition, I got two third places and one second place.

Ever since then, I’ve been training and trying to do my best and get to where I am now. So my first World Cup was in April of 2018 and that was a huge, huge difference from what I’m used to. I love going internationally because I get to see stuff not everyone else sees and going internationally by age 16 was amazing. I had to do school online because I couldn’t go to high school and when I did go to high school, I had to take in notes that said, ‘Hey, I’ll be out of the country for like two or three weeks.’ So it was really amazing because I had an opportunity that not everyone else had.

It’s been a whirlwind.

You mentioned that you fence all three weapons. Which is your favorite?

Oh, this is a tough one. Either epee or saber. I like epee because there’s basically no rules whatsoever. You hit to hit. There’s no right of way. You just hit to hit. And then, saber is fast and energetic, which I love that. I love being able to go fast. I love being able to flash and then get back and then defend.

What are your goals in the sport?

My one major goal was to make the Paralympics and I did that.

My other goals are to make the next two Paralympics, so Paris 2024 and LA 2028. Those are my next two goals and then my last goal is to get to be a World Champion.

I know the para community is a very close group. What does it mean to have that support?

I love it. It’s not like able-bodied where you compete and then you go away. It’s more tight-knit. You fence and the mask is on and you’re enemies, and then the mask comes off and you’re absolute best friends. You’re talking. You’re laughing. And then

SHELBY QUALIFIED FOR HER FIRST PARALYMPIC TEAM AFTER TRYING PARAFENCING JUST FIVE YEARS AGO.

52 AMERICAN FENCING B

Quick Facts CLUBS: Valkyrie Fencing Club and Salt City Swords Academy

COACHES: Mickey Zeka and Brandon Smith SABER FENCING, ALONG WITH EPEE, ARE SHELBY’S TWO FAVORITE WEAPONS.

SCHOOL: Currently getting an associate’s degree in nutrition from Salt Lake Community College (2022)

BEST RESULTS: when the mask is on and you’re on the piste, you fence and you absolutely hate each other in your mind. [Laughs].

I love that aspect of it. You can go out to dinner with them and everything. The support is unreal. We talk to each other almost every day.

Do you have any idea what you’d like do career-wise down the line?

I want to be a nutritionist or a rec therapist.

What makes you interested in those options?

So nutritionist, I love food. There’s no doubt about that, and I love cooking and I love baking and I love all the different options there are. Helping people with that, with their nutrition, really makes me happy. Just helping people. And then the rec therapy, I already work for the adaptive program, so being able to get my degree in rec therapy would mean more doors would be open for me to go into. I could help the mentally disabled. I could help the physically disabled more. It just means to run my own programs and come up with new ideas to help them.

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

My favorite thing to cook would be grilled cheese and tomato soup. I love that.

What’s the secret to your grilled cheese?

A layer of cheddar cheese and provolone cheese.

What’s your favorite place you’d traveled to while fencing?

Probably South Korea because all the people were so helpful. We had a training camp there and we go to see the city. The city is just beautiful and I would say that the markets are there were unbelievable and amazing to walk through.

Three-time National Champion Bronze at the 2019 U23 Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Epee) Silver at the 2018 Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Category A Saber) Bronze at the 2018 Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Category A Foil)

GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Qualifying for the Paralympic Games and winning bronze at the 2019 U23 Wheelchair World Championships in Dubai

FAVORITE FENCING ITEM:

Her saber mask (It was her first mask with the American flag on it)

JOCK OR GEEK: Jock TRAINING REGIMEN: Work out at 6 a.m. and hit the dummy for 1-1.5 hours six days per week One hour lesson and fencing practice for four hours four days per week

FAVORITE DRILL: Around the World (saber drill) “It takes two people. Someone hits parry 4 and then you obviously parry 4 and then you come back and the other person hits parry 5 and then parry 3 and then you just keep doing that.”

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