Harvey takes bronze for Canada’s first-ever Olympic fencing medal

PARIS — The seeds of Eleanor Harvey's fencing career were planted in a backyard in Hamilton where she used to imagine the sticks she played with were swords.

"We would pick up sticks and pretend to fight," she said. "I didn't know fencing existed. I didn't know it was an Olympic sport. I thought it was just in the olden days, like knights or whatever.

"So when I found out sword fighting was in the Olympics, I was like, 'I'm going to the Olympics in sword fighting.'"

And she did.

Harvey made history Sunday, winning Olympic bronze in the women's individual foil at the Paris Games. It is Canada's first-ever Olympic medal in the sport.

The 29-year-old Canadian topped Italy's Alice Volpi 15-12 for the win.

Harvey employed an aggressive style against the No. 3-seed Italian that she had not shown during matches earlier in the day, including a semifinal bout where she was defeated 15-9 by American Lauren Scruggs.

During the two hours between the semifinal and bronze medal, Harvey ate sour candies and plain pasta, and talked to her team.

“I feel like when I was in the semifinal … I was more scared.," she said. "And then, after talking to my team and my coaches and everything, they were like, ‘You're fighting for a medal. If you're going to lose, at least go out fighting.’ And so that resonated with me.”

Harvey chalked up the first three points against Volpi, constantly pushing her opponent back, and leapt out to a 6-1 lead.

Volpi battled back and cut the deficit to 6-3 before Harvey — the tournament's No. 12 seed — replied with a series of strikes that gave her a 9-4 lead heading into the second round.

The Italian was ferocious to start the middle frame, scoring six straight points to level the score at 10-10.

Harvey continued to fight and, when referee Ayoub Ferjani confirmed she had scored the decisive point to make it 15-12, the Canadian dropped to her knees.

“For some reason, today I fenced well," Harvey said. "I train just as hard, whether it's the Olympics or not. For some reason, it was really good today.”

Scruggs went on to face fellow American Lee Keifer for gold, with Keifer winning 15-5 for her second straight Olympic title.

“I think defending is always harder," the gold medallist said. "Because the first time just feels like the stars align. The second time, I don’t know if you can control things like that.”

Canadian fencers, not known for contending for Olympic medals, have been making waves in Paris.

On Saturday, Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., upset three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in the men's sabre competition before narrowly losing to eventual gold medallist Oh Sang-uk of South Korea in the quarterfinals.

Seeing the Canadians' success this weekend will spur future athletes, Harvey said.

"Seeing me as a real human that just keeps fighting, I think that means a lot," she said. "Especially not having a rich history in fencing in Canada."

Paris marks Harvey's third Olympics. She finished seventh in women's individual foil at Rio in 2016 and came fifth in women's team foil at the Tokyo Games.

Harvey was a silver medallist in both the individual and team foil events in her third Pan Am Games last year in Santiago, Chile.

Getting to the sport's highest levels has required sacrifice, including from Harvey's mother, Lise Graydon.

“My mom, she had to sell her house in order to afford to send me to competitions, before I had other forms of funding," the fencer explained.

Graydon was in the crowd at the Grand Palais Sunday to watch her daughter make history.

Their reunion afterward was "pretty chill," Harvey said.

“I think we were both kind of just like ‘Whoa! That’s pretty awesome,'" she said. "I kind of thought I would be emotional or something. But it wasn’t that emotional. We were both just like ‘Nice. This is good.’”

In other Round of 16 results, Toronto's Jessica Guo was defeated 15-11 by Scruggs and Yunjia Zhang, also from Toronto, fell 15-5 to Hungary’s Flora Pasztor.

Also on Sunday, Nicholas Zhang of Richmond, B.C., lost 15-11 to Venezuela’s Grabiel Lugo in the opening round of the men's épée.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2024.