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| Cover Story, Olympic Beat: Countdown to Beijing (Mariel Zagunis and Sada Jacobson)
I know that not many people on this board get this magazine, so I thought I would transcribe it here (I can't find a copy of it on the internet). You can put "[sic]" next to each and every one of the punctuation errors, if you like.
From September 2006 Olympic Beat, United States Olympic Committee News
On Cover: "Countdown to Beijing" and "Mariel Zagunis and Sada Jacobson may lead the strongest US Fencing team yet as they look ahead to Beijing."
Sports feature
En Garde By Greg Mette
Growing up, most children dream of becoming the next Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Mia Hamm or Cal Ripkin. As the old saying goes, it's "If I could be like Mike..." But, for some children, the saying ends with names Ann, Peter, Iris or Felicia - as in Marsh, Westbrook or Zimmerman.
"When I first began fencing, I looked up to sisters Iris and Felicia Zimmerman and Ann Marsh," 2004 Olympic Games gold medalist Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) said. "They were the generation before me and although we never fenced in competition, I always admired what they were accomplishing."
With that said, Zagunis might be next in a long list of great American fencers, and is definitely someone young fencers should idolize and imitate.
The 20-year-old Zagunis, has come on strong since the Athens Games. She surprised many by capturing gold in the women's individual saber event at the 2004 Olympic Games. Most recently, Zagunis won the 2006 World Cup, and is now the No. 1 ranked saber fencer in the world. Zagunis and teammate Sada Jacobson (Dunwoody, Ga.) are the only two US fencers to hold the World Cup title. Jacobson earned the distinction three consecutive years (2003-05).
"No one really expected me to be there (in Athens)," Zagunis said. "I wasn't in the spotlight, didn't have any expectation and was kind of under the radar. I think that really helped me a lot in terms of being able to concentrate."
However, as Zagunis admitted, it will be the complete opposite come 2008 in Beijing. She will be the one with the huge target on her back. She will be the one the fencers will be after. But, she will be ready.
The Notre Dame junior and 2006 NCAA Saber Fencing Champion will return to campus for the fall semester before taking one and a half years off to start intense training in hopes of capturing her second straight Olympic gold medal.
"Initially, my goals are to get in the same shape I was going into Athens," Zagunis said. "It's still a long ways away, but I'm just going to make sure I'm ready by getting into shape, studying my opponents and mentally preparing myself for Beijing."
At the Athens Games, Zagunis and Jacobson, the 2004 bronze medalist, gave the US its first two-medal performance since 1904 and first medal in 20 years.
"To be able to achieve such a huge thing for not only fencing, but US women's fencing was a very proud moment for both of us," Zagunis said. "I'm really happy that I could be a part of that with her."
"It felt good to accomplish that," Jacobson added. "I think that right now the Americans in saber are so strong that there is no reason why we shouldn't be taking medals, so to bring back two at the Olympics was a great result."
Along with thtat strength and the success the women's saber fencers had in Athens, the men's saber division also seems poised for a medal-run in Beijing with all its top fencers coming back.
The USOC Fencing Male Athlete of the Year in 2001, Ivan Lee (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 25, is back after participating in the 2004 Olympic Games and was most recently crowned the 2006 National Champion, along with holding the title in 2001 and 2003. He was also the 2001 and 2002 NCAA individual saber champion and won two golds at the 2003 Pan American Games in the individual and team events.
Meanwhile, Keeth Smart (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is striving for his third straight Olympic Games (2000, 2004) after earning National Champion honors in 2002 and 2004. Smart hold nine total World Cup medals over the past two years of competition and was a member of the 1999 Pan American Games bronze-medal team. Additionally, he was the 1997 and 1999 NCAA individual saber champion.
After watching the men's team finish in fourth place in 2004, the women will now have a new medal opportunity with the team saber event starting at the Beijing Games.
The prospective US team of Zagunis, Jacobson, 16-year-old Rebecca Ward and 19-year-old Caitlin Thompson looks as if it could potentially have a great shot at capturing the first gold medal in the newly instituted team event.
"I am extremely excited about the women's saber team event," Zagunis said. "It's something we've hoped from the beginning. We are an incredibly strong team with four really talented fencers. We have great chemistry and are all very confident. Team are scared of us, I can honestly say that."
And Zagunis would know. After all, she is clubmates with Ward and Thompson and has a long history with Jacobson, having been teammates and rivals for approximately eight years now. Though they are both fierce and competitive on the strip when competiting against each other, they are first and foremost friends.
"If I'm fencing, Mariel is outside the strip cheering me on, and if she's fencing then I'm there cheering her on," Jacobson said. "We're very supportive of each other."
And do not think the two younger members of this potential team will be a walkover either. Ward, currently the eighth ranked fencer in the world, accomplished what only Zagunis had done prior to her. She captured four World Championship titles in one year with her victory at the 2006 Junior and Cadet World Fencing Championships in April. Zagunis achieved the feat in 2001.
Thompson, who will be a sophomore at Penn State this fall, recently took fourth place in the NCAA Saber Fencing Championships earlier this year.
Zagunis, Ward and Thompson are all trained and coached by Ed Korfanty at the Oregon Fencing Alliance Club in Beaverton.
Five-time Olympian and former Vice President of the United States Fencing Association (1992-1996), Michael Marx runs an epée and foil club in Beaverton and works closely with Korfanty and his club.
"Ed's got an incredible program and has had tremendous results in both men's and women's saber," Marx said. "If you take a great guy, coach and program and you put them together, you're going to have something real nice."
And do not think Korfanty's students and the saber division is the only area of fencing that has excelled over the last four years. The foil and epée divisions also have some up-and-coming athletes that will contend for the 2008 Olympic Team in Beijing.
Emily Cross (New York, N.Y.), 19, holds the title of 2005 women's foil Junior World Champion and is currently ranked second in the world in the junior foil division.
Erinn Smart (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is a three-time women's foil National Champion (1998, 2002, 2004) and was a member of the 2001 Senior Worlds women's foil team that won the bronze. Smart was also a member of the US team at the 2004 Olympic Games.
On the men's side, Harvard junior, Benji Ungar (Bronx, N.Y.) is a rising star in the men's epée division. Ungar most recently earned the bronze medal at the 2006 Junior and Cadet World Fencing Championships in April and captured the NCAA Epée Championship this part March.
One of Marx's students, Cody Mattern (Tigard, Ore.) was on the 2004 Athens Games team and is one of the top epée fencers in the United States. In 2004, he captured silver at the Senior World Cup and was the 2001 US National Champion.
All the success the US fencers have had in the last few years has not gone unnoticed either.
"We've spent the last 10 years trying to achieve greatness in the sport and our goal as a national governing body and a sport in the US is to be the best in the world," Executive Director of US Fencing, Michael Massik said. "We've made very significant accomplishments toward achieving that goal. We still have a long way to go, but we're really exited and enthusiastic. I think that we're going to get there and over the next quad or two we will be the best across the world."
Marx has also seen a dramatic increase in the popularity of the sport he excelled at for so many years. "Currently, the growth of our sport has been so fast, we're having difficulty keeping up with it," Marx said. "I can tell our results from a couple decades ago have increased tremendously."
Though the sport originated in Europe, in the last few years, fencing has gained in popularity throughout the United States, due in part to the success of the young female saber fencers.
"We're emerging to be one of the competing national with a great group of athletes all-around, and we're starting to gain a lot of respect from the other countries around the world," US Fencing High Performance Director Jim Page said.
This thought is also shared amoung the athletes as well.
"We have really good structure and organization with our club, and since the time I began fencing, it has grown so much," Zagunis remarks. "I definitely think it's gaining popularity all over the United States and it's great to see."
Some of America's top athletes are in a sport most people know nothing about. However, fencing is developing some of the best athletes the United States has to offer.
"Fencing isn't a very popular sport, so anything we can do to bring attention to it and make it more popular nationwide or worldwide is something that we're always trying to accomplish," Zagunis said. "We want the world to love fencing just as much as we do."
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