NOTRE DAME, Ind. — When the Summer Olympics finally get underway in Tokyo this July, the Irish will be well represented on the strip as 11 current or former Irish student-athletes have qualified for the Olympics. The 11 student-athletes surpasses Notre Dame’s previous record of five fencing athletes competing at the Summer Games.
The Irish fencers will be representing four different countries, with the United States having eight Irish on their squad. Singapore, Hong Kong, and Poland will all have one Irish athlete taking the strip for them in the Games.
Mariel Zagunis will be making her fifth appearance in the Olympic Games for the United States this summer. She is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2004 and 2008) and was the first American to win a gold medal in Olympic fencing. She won two bronze medals in team competition (2008 and 2016). She also competed in the 2012 Olympics and was the flag bearer for the United States in the Opening Ceremony. She is presently the ninth-ranked sabre fencer in the world.
Kelley Hurley will be making her fourth consecutive appearance in the Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016). She was a part of the epee team in 2012 to win the bronze medal, the first podium finish ever for a U.S. women’s epee squad. Hurley was joined by her sister Courtney on the 2012 bronze medal team. She currently sits 16th in the world individual rankings.
Courtney Hurley will be appearing in her third-straight Olympic games (2012 and 2016) for the United States epee team. This will also be the third Olympics that she is joined by her sister Kelley. The pair were both bronze medalists on the U.S. epee team in the 2012 London Games.
Gerek Meinhardt is another former Irish fencer that will be making his fourth Olympic appearance (2008, 2012, and 2016) for the Red, White and Blue. He was the youngest male U.S. fencer to ever qualify for the Olympics in his first appearance back in 2008. He was part of the bronze medal-winning foil team in Rio in 2016. Meinhardt is currently the number two-ranked foilist in the world.
Lee Keifer is the top-ranked women’s foilist for the United States heading into Tokyo this summer. She is one of three Irish to be the top-ranked fencer for the United States heading into the games (Meinhardt, K. Hurley). Kiefer will be making her third trip to the Olympics after qualifying for London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. Kiefer is currently the fifth-ranked foilist in the world.
Nick Itkin (foil), Sabrina Massialas (foil) and Francesca Russo (sabre) will all be making their first Olympic appearances this summer. Itkin is currently ranked ninth in the world individual rankings. Massialas won gold at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, and she was the first U.S. athlete in any weapon ever to win gold at the Youth Olympic Games.
Former Irish epeeist Ewa (Nelip) Trzebinska qualified for her first Olympics this summer as she will be representing Poland in both the individual and team epee events. She was the silver medalist in the 2017 World Championships in Leipzig. Poland is the second-ranked women’s epee team in the world heading into Tokyo.
Two other current Irish fencers will be making the trip to Tokyo this summer for their first Olympics. Amita Berthier will be representing Singapore in the individual foil competition while Kaylin Hsieh will be representing Hong Kong, China in both the individual and team events at the Games.
Fencing at the Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 24 with the men’s individual sabre and women’s individual epee competitions. The final fencing event will be held on August 1 for the men’s team foil.
List of Irish in Tokyo
USA
Courtney Hurley (Epee)
Kelley Hurley (Epee)
Nick Itkin (Foil)
Lee Kiefer (Foil)
Gerek Meinhardt (Foil)
Mariel Zagunis (Sabre)
Sabrina Massialas (Foil, replacement athlete)
Francesca Russo (Sabre, replacement athlete)
Hong Kong, China
Kaylin Hsieh (Epee)
Poland
Ewa (Nelip) Trzebinska (Epee)
Singapore
Amita Berthier (Foil, individual)
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