For centuries, fencing has held its reputation as one of the most difficult sports to master. Success demands an impossible combination of speed, precision and technique. But that’s only half the battle.
Fencing bouts are fought not only on the strip (or “piste”) but also in the minds of the competitors.
“They call fencing ‘physical chess,’ and there’s a good reason for that,” U.S. epeeist Margherita Guzzi Vincenti told NBC Olympics. “We have to be, of course, physically very adept to perform the best we can in the sport, but it's all about the mind game and outsmarting your opponent.”
It, perhaps, comes as no surprise then that the U.S. fencing team set to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics is the brainiest, best-educated and highest-achieving group of Americans you’re likely to ever find representing the Stars and Stripes on the Olympic stage.
SEE MORE: Fencing 101: U.S. Olympic roster and player news
The list of universities attached to the 20 members of the U.S. fencing team – which includes graduates, active collegiate athletes and even a couple of incoming freshmen – reads like a valedictorian’s college wish list.
Six graduated from, currently attend or are about to enroll at Harvard. Five at Princeton. Four come from the legendary fencing program at Notre Dame. Two are Columbia Lions, and one attended Stanford. The only public state school represented is Penn State (winners of a record 13 NCAA fencing championships), and the pair of athletes who proudly call themselves Nittany Lions are among the most impressive of the bunch – more on them in a moment.
And it’s not just in the classroom where these athletes have proven their mettle. While forging careers as elite fencers, many of the U.S. team members are simultaneously pursuing professional careers in medicine, banking, fine art, modeling and more.
“I think that this mindset and this cleverness that [fencing] brings to us shines out in day-to-day life. And that's why you have so many people that are successful in their fencing and then they also have great careers,” Guzzi Vincenti said.
From the strip to the lab… to the reef
The 34-year-old, originally from Milan, Italy, is the epitome of well-rounded. After graduating from Penn State in 2010, Guzzi Vincenti currently works as a medical researcher and is studying to become a cardiologist once her fencing career is over.
“I deal with patients that have muscular dystrophy and cardiovascular problems. And we're looking into specific drugs and how they interact with their heart and how they can make their heart basically function a little bit better,” she said. “I feel the intensity that the sport gives me, the fact that I have to stay focused on my task while I fence, also helps me in day-to-day life with my job.”
If Olympic fencer and medical researcher wasn’t enough, Guzzi Vincenti also moonlights as a professional scuba diver who has achieved divemaster certification, allowing her to lead guided group dives.
“I love to do that sport because it's something that, when I'm off the strip, I can be in the water, it actually helps me relax and it helps me stay with my own thoughts and control my breathing,” Guzzi Vincenti said. “So I feel that my medical career helps me stay focused in my fencing career, my fencing career helps me stay focused on my medical career, and then the scuba diving really ties everything together by keeping me relaxed and happy in the water.”
A lasting impact
With an average age of 30.5, the U.S. men’s foil team is the oldest foursome on the U.S. roster. And though the squad represents one of the favorites for team foil gold, that hasn’t prevented its members from branching out beyond the sport.
Gerek Meinhardt, set to compete at his fifth and final Olympics in Paris, will do so as a currently-enrolled student at the University of Kentucky Medical School.
Meanwhile, Miles Chamley-Watson has made a mark as arguably the world’s first “celebrity fencer” as both a fashion model and a social media influencer. The 35-year-old Nittany Lion, originally born in London, boasts nearly half a million Instagram followers and is a close friend of Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton.
Stanford grad and three-time Olympic medalist Alexander Massialas plans to wait until after he hangs up his foil to decide what comes next, but says he’s been inspired by his teammates’ lives away from fencing.
“Everyone I've come across in the sport of fencing, so many of them have left a lasting impact on me because of their success. And because of that, I feel encouraged and motivated every day to get better,” Massialas said. “Miles is such an impressive model and advocate for the sport, Gerek with his foray into medicine… there's so many people out there doing such great things off the strip. It really inspires me to try and achieve the same, whatever my interests are.”