July 24, 2002
US Fencing Team For 2002 World Championships
The U.S. Fencing Association has selected the team that will represent the United States at the 2002 Senior World Championships, August 17-23 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The World Championships, held annually except in the year of the Olympic Games, is the competition concluding a full year of World Cup competitions. Fencers are seeded on the basis of rankings earned on the World Cup circuit over the season.
Four fencers have been selected in each of six weapons - men’s epee, foil and sabre and women’s epee, foil and sabre. Those athletes will compete in the individual and team events.
This year’s team has significant depth and experience with four U.S. fencers ranked in the top-16 of the World Cup rankings, and 19 of the 24 veterans of at least one prior Senior World Championships.
A mixed sabre team competition will be included this year for the first time. Two men and two women will compete from the top eight countries. The U.S. team is seeded 7th. The men will fence each other and the women will fence each other, in a relay team format for a maximum number of bouts of 8 and total score for the winner of 40. The bouts will alternate between the men and women with a toss of the coin to decide which will fence first, men’s bout or women’s bout. This event is being considered as a possible Olympic team format for the 2008 Olympic Games.
NOTES
Olympians: Three Olympians are among those selected for the 2002 team. Iris Zimmermann (21, Rochester, N.Y., '00) will fence women’s foil; Akhnaten Spencer-El (23, New York, N.Y., '00) and Keeth Smart (23, New York, N.Y., '00) will fence men’s sabre. Iris Zimmermann won the bronze individual medal at the 1999 World Championships, won the gold medal at the 2000 World Junior Championships, and was a member of the bronze medal women’s foil team in 2001.
Age Range: The team ranges in age from 15 to 38, with Emily Cross, women's foil, as the youngest and Chris Becker, 38, women's sabre, the oldest.
Women's Sabre: The latest event to be added to the program of the Senior World Championships is women's sabre. A demonstration event was held in 1998, with one fencer representing each country and Team USA's Kelly Williams taking the silver medal. In 2000, the U.S. Women's Sabre team won the U.S.'s first gold medal in a world championship team event. Members of that team were Christine Becker, Sada Jacobson, Mariel Zagunis, Nicole Mustilli. In 2001, Mariel Zagunis (17, Beaverton, Ore.), became the first U.S. fencer to capture four World Championship titles: 2000 gold by team, 2001 Under-17, Under-20, and Junior Team gold medallist. She also became the first fencer in the world ever to hold three World Championship titles in the same year. Zagunis will represent the U.S. again in Lisbon.
Bronze Medallists: The women's foil team of Ann Marsh, Erinn Smart, Felicia Zimmermann and Iris Zimmermann won the bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships in Nimes, France. It was the first U.S. medal at this event. Iris Zimmermann and Erinn Smart return to lead the women’s foil team again this year.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM, AUG. 17-23, 2002, LISBON, PORTUGAL
WOMEN'S FOIL
Iris Zimmermann, 1/6/81, Rush (Rochester), N.Y. (Stanford '03/Rochester Fencing Centre)
Erinn Smart, 1/12/80, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barnard/Columbia '01/Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Emily Cross, 10/15/86, New York, N.Y. (The Brearly School '05/Fencers Club)
Hannah Thompson, 11/1/83, Rochester, N.Y. (The Ohio State University ’05/Rochester Fencing Centre)
WOMEN'S SABRE
Chris Becker, 10/5/63, Portland, Ore. (Smith College ’85/ Oregon Fencing Alliance)
Emily Jacobson, 12/2/85, Atlanta, Ga. (The Westminster Schools '04/Nellya Fencers)
Sada Jacobson, 2/14/83, Atlanta, Ga.(Yale University '04/Nellya Fencers)
Mariel Zagunis, 3/3/85, Portland, Ore. (Valley Catholic High School '03/Oregon Fencing Alliance)
WOMEN'S EPEE
Daisy Flores, 2/21/71, Globe, AZ (Global Fencing Center)
Kamara James, 11/23/84, Jamaica, N.Y. (Princeton ’06/ Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Julia Leszko, 11/7/69, Portland, Ore. (Ohio State University ’93/ NorthWest Fencing Center)
Kristin Suchorski, 1/2/75, Alexandria, Va. (/Brandeis University ’97/ D.C. Fencers Club)
MEN'S EPEE
Eric Hansen, 1/9/75, San Bruno, Calif. (University of San Francisco ’97/ Golden Gate Fencing Center)
Seth Kelsey, 8/24/81, Brush Prairie, WA. (U.S. Air Force Academy ’03)
Jeffrey Snider, 12/25/71, Falls Church, Va. (George Masin Univ./ D.C. Fencers Club)
Justin Tausig, 7/28/70, Paris, France (Salle Santelli/Racing Club de France)
MEN'S FOIL
Jedediah Dupree, 10/07/79, New York, N.Y. (Columbia University ’01, Fencers Club)
Jonathan Tiomkin, 7/12/79, New York, N.Y. (St. John's University '02/Fencers Club)
Dan J Kellner, 4/16/76, New York, N.Y. (Columbia University, ’98, Fencers Club)
Alex Wood, 1/12/78, Mountain View, Calif. (Stanford University, ’00, Stanford Fencing Club)
MEN'S SABRE
Ivan J Lee, 3/31/81, Brooklyn, N.Y. (St. John's University '03/ Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Herby Raynaud, 04/17/71, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Columbia University ’93/ Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Keeth Smart, 7/29/78, Brooklyn, N.Y. (St. John's University '01/ Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Akhnaten Spencer-El, 4/13/79, New York, N.Y. (Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Manager – Kalle Weeks
Armorer – Matthew Porter
Trainers – Lonnie Sellers, Doug Rank
Coaches – Arkady Burdan, Simon Gershon, Yury Gelman, Ed Korfanty, Buckie Leach, Michael Marx, Michael Petin, Paul Soter
Captain – Vladimir Nazlymov
Chief of Mission – Carl Borack, Jeff Bukantz (Assistant)
Staff Liaison – Carla-Mae Richards
World and U.S. Team Rankings
Women’s Sabre
1. ROMANIA
2. RUSSIA
3. HUNGARY
4. FRANCE
7. USA
Men’s Sabre
1. HUNGARY
2. ROMANIA
3. GERMANY
4. ITALY
11. USA
Women’s Epee
1. GERMANY
2. RUSSIA
3. FRANCE
4. HUNGARY
18. USA
Men’s Epee
1. HUNGARY
2. AUSTRIA
3. ESTONIA
4. SPAIN
10. USA
Women’s Foil
1. ITALY
2. ROMANIA
3. GERMANY
4. RUSSIA
9. USA
Men’s Foil
1. GERMANY
2. FRANCE
3. POLAND
4. AUSTRIA
7. USA
Mixed Sabre Team
1. Hungary
2. Romania
3. Russia
4. France
5. Germany
6. Italy
7. USA
8. Ukraine
World and U.S. Individ. Rankings
Women’s Sabre
1. JEMAYEVA Yelena RUS
2. TOUYA Anne-Lise FRA
3. ARGIOLAS Cecile FRA
4. JACOBSON Sada USA
7. JACOBSON Emily USA
15. ZAGUNIS Mariel USA
17. BECKER Christine USA
Men’s Sabre
1. POZDNIAKOV Stanislav RUS
2. PILLET Julien FRA
3. COVALIU Mihai ROM
16. SMART Keeth USA
52. LEE Ivan USA
80. RAYNAUD Herby USA
82. SPENCER-EL Akhnaten
Women’s Epee
1. FLESSEL COLOVIC Laura FRA
2. DUPLITZER Imke GER
3. MACKAY Sherraine CAN
102. LESZKO Julia USA
123. JAMES Kamara USA
142. SUCHORSKI Kristin USA
NR. FLORES Daisy
Men’s Epee
1. MILANOLI Paolo ITA
2. JEANNET Fabrice FRA
3. MARIK Christoph AUT
32. HANSEN Eric USA
38. TAUSIG Justin USA
40. SNIDER Jeffrey USA
89. KELSEY Seth USA
Women’s Foil
1. VEZZALI Valentina ITA
2. TRILLINI Giovanna ITA
3. SCARLAT Roxana ROM
41. SMART Erinn USA
71. CROSS Emily USA
83. ZIMMERMANN Iris USA
183. THOMPSON Hannah USA
Men’s Foil
1. SANZO Salvatore ITA
2. BISSDORF Ralph GER
3. BOIDIN Franck FRA
45. KELLNER Daniel USA
52. TIOMKIN Jonathan USA
95. DUPREE Jed USA
300. WOOD Alex USA
For more information, please contact:
Cindy Bent
US Fencing Media Relations
614.284.4605 * USFencingMedia@earthlink.net
<a href="http://www.USFencing.org" target="_blank">www.USFencing.org</a>
