Eli Dershwitz

Eli Dershwitz
Personal information
Born (1995-09-23) September 23, 1995
Sherborn, Massachusetts
Residence Sherborn, Massachusetts
Training location Natick, Massachusetts
Weapon(s) saber
Hand left-handed
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 77.1 kg (170 lb)
Club Zeta Fencing
Head coach(es) Zoran Tulum
FIE Ranking 12
Domestic Ranking 1[1]

Eli Dershwitz (born September 23, 1995) is an American Olympic saber fencer.[13][14]

He was ranked #1 in the United States, and #10 in the world, as of the summer of 2016.[15][16] He is the youngest saber fencer among the world’s top 25. Dershwitz represented the US in fencing at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and will return to Harvard University as a sophomore.

In 2014, Dershwitz won the US Men's Saber National Championship, becoming the youngest-ever US senior men's saber champion. Dershwitz then won the 2015 Junior World Fencing Championships in saber, becoming the first American men's saber fencer to win a world title. He is a four-time Pan-American Champion, and the 2015 Pan American Games champion in saber.

Early life and education

Dershwitz was born and raised in Sherborn, Massachusetts.[15][17][18][19] [20][21] He has an older brother (Phil, who fenced for Princeton University) and a twin sister Sally.

Dershwitz played basketball and soccer up until the end of middle school.[22] He attended Dover-Sherborn High School, graduating in 2014.[13][14]

He is a student at Harvard University, where Dershwitz plans to possibly major in either history or government.[22] He is a member of the varsity Harvard Crimson fencing team.[23] As a freshman in 2014-15, he was a First Team All-American, All-Ivy League, and finished third at the NCAA Fencing Championships with a 22-2 record.[13] He was the seventh Harvard fencer to compete in the Olympics, with the prior two having been Emily Cross '09 (Team USA) and Noam Mills '12 (Israel), who both competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.[24][25] Dershwitz took off the 2015–16 school year to train full-time for the Olympics.[15]

Fencing career

Dershwitz was ranked number 1 in saber in the United States, and number 10 in the world, as of the summer of 2016.[15][16] In March 2016, US Olympic saber coach Zoran Tulum said: "Eli’s world ranking is remarkable... he is the youngest [saber] fencer among the world’s top 25."[26]

He followed his older brother into fencing.[16] Dershwitz has been coached since 2004 when he was 9 years old by Tulum, at the Zeta Fencing club in Natick, Massachusetts.[27][28] Tulum will coach the US men’s saber team in the 2016 Olympics.[15][29][30][31]

In February 2016, Dershwitz beat Russia's 2015 world champion Alexey Yakimenko at the Warsaw World Cup.[32] In March 2016, while winning the gold medal at the Seoul Grand Prix in South Korea, he defeated 2014 world silver medalist Gu Bon-gil of Korea in the quarterfinals, 2014 world champion Nikolay Kovalev of Russia in the semifinals, and Iranian Mojtaba Abedini in the final.[33]

US Championship competitions

In March 2013, Dershwitz was the top-ranked US junior saber fencer.[29] In April 2014, Dershwitz won the US Men's Saber National Championship, becoming the youngest-ever US senior men's saber champion.[34][35][36][37] As of July 1, 2016, he was ranked #1 in the United States, ahead of teammate Daryl Homer.[38]

World Championship competitions

Dershwitz was the 2015 Under-20 World Saber Champion.[39] He is the only American men's saber fencer to win a world title.[39] He is a five-time Junior World Fencing Championships and Cadet World Championships team member.[40]

He won a silver medal at the 2012 Junior World Championships, a bronze medal at the 2013 Junior World Championships, and the gold medal at the 2015 Junior World Fencing Championships—the first title for a US men’s saber fencer at the junior world championships.[15][32] In March 2013, Dershwitz was the number-two-ranked world junior saber fencer.[29]

In 2013, Dershwitz fenced in men's sabre at the 2013 World Fencing Championships, where he finished 36th after a 15-12 loss to Matyas Szabo (Germany). He was also the youngest member of the US national team in 2013, at 17 years of age.[41] Dershwitz also competed in men's sabre at the 2014 World Fencing Championships in Kazan, Russia, in men's sabre at the 2015 World Fencing Championships in Moscow, Russia, and in the 2016 Senior Team World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.[42][43]

Pan American Games and Pan American Championships

Dershwitz is a four-time Pan-American Champion. He won individual gold medals at the 2014 Pan American Fencing Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the 2015 Pan American Fencing Championships in Santiago, Chile. He also won team gold medals in the 2013 Pan American Fencing Championships in Cartagena, Colombia, and the 2016 Pan American Fencing Championships in Panama City, Panama.[44]

Dershwitz also won gold medals in both individual and team saber in fencing at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.[45]

Olympics

Dershwitz represented the United States in fencing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 10.[1][46] He qualified by being in the top 14 of the FIE adjusted official ranking list, and was the youngest member of the US Olympic fencing team.[32][47] He said, "I am excited to represent my country... at a sporting event that brings the entire world together in peace."[19] Commenting on having watched the last Olympics from home as a teenager, Dershwitz said "just to think that in three short years ... it can go from watching on a computer screen ... to actually being on the biggest stage in sports, it’s so hard to picture. But now it’s all I think about."[48]

Dershwitz fenced Seppe Van Holsbeke of Belgium in the opening round of the Olympics men’s sabre competition.[49] He lost 15-12 to Van Holsbeke, who advanced to the Round of 16.[50]

He returned to Harvard University as a sophomore six days after the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2
  2. ↑ http://results.toronto2015.org/IRS/en/fencing/schedule-and-results.htm
  3. 1 2 3 4 http://fie.org/competitions/2016/759/results/rank
  4. ↑ http://www.eurofencing.info/
  5. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2011-2012/2012-07-SN/
  6. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2013-2014/2014-07-JUL%20SN/FTEvent_2014Jun22_U19MS.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2013-2014/2014-01-JAN%20NAC/
  8. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2014-2015/2015.06-JUN-SN/FTEvent_2015Jun27_DV1MS.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2014-2015/2015.01-JAN-NAC/
  10. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2014-2015/2014.10-OCT-NAC/
  11. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2011-2012/2012-04-APR%20NAC/
  12. ↑ http://www.usfencingresults.org/results/2011-2012/2012-02-FEB%20JO/FTEvent_2012Feb17_U20MS.htm
  13. 1 2 3
  14. 1 2
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6
  16. 1 2 3
  17. ↑
  18. ↑
  19. 1 2 3
  20. ↑
  21. ↑
  22. 1 2
  23. ↑ http://www.gocrimson.com/aotw/2014-15/20141209_dershwitz
  24. ↑
  25. ↑
  26. ↑
  27. ↑
  28. ↑
  29. 1 2 3
  30. ↑ Pave, Martin (2014-06-26). "Sherborn teen Eli Dershwitz, US Sabre champion, off to worlds in Russia". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2015-05-03. ...youngest-ever national champion in the sabre...
  31. ↑
  32. 1 2 3
  33. ↑
  34. ↑ "2014 DIV I & Wheelchair Championship + April North American Cup | National Tournament Results". USA Fencing. 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  35. ↑ Lazdowski, Paul (2013-03-21). "Three Greater Boston teens make national fencing squad". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2015-05-03. [Eli] Dershwitz, [Andrew] Mackiewicz, and [Alex] House ... were named to the 18-member US National Junior Fencing Team
  36. ↑ Larson, Craig (2015-04-26). "Sherborn's Eli Dershwitz repeats as Pan American champion in Sabre". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2015-05-03. ...World Championship title, Sherborn teen Eli Dershwitz returned to the medal podium Monday in Santiago, Chile. ... defended his Pan American title and won the individual gold medal for the second year in a row
  37. ↑
  38. ↑
  39. 1 2 http://www.fencingworldwide.com/en/competition/1724-14/result/
  40. ↑
  41. ↑ "Senior Athletes | Athlete Bios". USA Fencing. 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  42. ↑ http://fie.org/competitions/2015/246/results/rank
  43. ↑ http://www.fie.ch/Competitions/ResultsList.aspx?Key=6411845B1D970A3EB0F3378EF9406167
  44. ↑ http://fie.org/results
  45. ↑ http://www.toronto2015.org/
  46. ↑
  47. ↑
  48. ↑
  49. ↑
  50. ↑
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