TORONTO (April 25, 2024) – Canadian Fencing Federation and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced the roster of Team Canada fencing athletes selected to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The athletes are:
Men’s Épée:
Nicholas Zhang (Richmond, B.C.)
Men’s Foil:
Blake Broszus (San Jose, USA)
Daniel Gu (Edmonton, Alta.)
Bogdan Hamilton* (St. Louis, USA)
Maximilien Van Haaster (Montreal, Que.)
Women’s Foil:
Sabrina Fang* (Vancouver, B.C.)
Jessica Guo (Toronto, Ont.)
Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, Ont.)
Yunjia Zhang (Toronto, Ont.)
Men’s Sabre:
François Cauchon (Montreal, Que.)
Olivier Desrosiers* (Montreal, Que.)
Shaul Gordon (Richmond, B.C.)
Fares Arfa (Laval, Que.)
Women’s Sabre:
Pamela Brind’Amour (Sainte-Martine, Que.)
*replacement team athlete
Canada qualified the men’s foil, women’s foil and men’s sabre teams based on the International Fencing Federation (FIE) world ranking lists, which counted team results from FIE World Cups, FIE World Championships and Continental Championships from April 3, 2023 to April 1, 2024.
Canada will have a men’s sabre team on the Olympic stage for the first time since Atlanta 1996, and will compete in both men’s and women’s team foil for a second-consecutive Olympic Games. The women’s foil team placed fifth at Tokyo 2020 while the men’s foil team finished ninth.
Canada’s women’s foil team, currently ranked fifth in the world, boasts a roster of accomplished fencers, including Jessica Guo, who won individual women’s foil gold at the 2024 FIE Junior World Championships earlier this month. Guo also won the 2024 NCAA National Championships while representing Harvard University where she is currently enrolled in her first year of pre-med. Earlier this season, the 18-year-old – who has a current top-10 world ranking in women’s individual foil – won bronze at a World Cup in Novi Sad, Serbia, followed by another bronze at a World Cup in Paris, France.
“It is amazing that we qualified a team again for the Paris Olympics! It was a long journey but we finally made it,” said Guo. “In Tokyo, I was the youngest on the team and my older teammates were great emotional support for my first Games. In Paris, I’ll no longer be the youngest; therefore, I want to be able to provide the same support and share my experience with my teammates. I am most excited to step on the Olympics stage with my teammates because the feeling of standing on the strip together will forever be unmatched. I want to leave Paris knowing I fought my hardest and tried my best, leaving with no regrets.”
Guo won the silver medal in individual women’s foil at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, where she shared the podium with teammate Eleanor Harvey who won bronze. Harvey, already a two-time Olympian, earned Canada’s best-ever Olympic result in an individual fencing event when she placed seventh in her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 and defeated the world’s number one ranked women’s foil fencer.
Sixteen-year-old Yunjia Zhang won individual foil bronze at the 2024 FIE Junior World Championships in the cadet women’s category and placed sixth in the junior women’s category. She will make her Olympic debut at Paris 2024, leaning on her experienced teammates Guo and Harvey.
Blake Broszus and Maximilien Van Haaster both contributed to the ninth-place finish for Canada’s men’s foil team at Tokyo 2020 and won silver in the same event at Santiago 2023. Van Haaster also competed in the individual event at Rio 2016. Broszus and Van Haaster will be joined by Daniel Gu, who will make his Olympic debut at Paris 2024.
Canada’s men’s sabre team hopes to build on the success of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. The team won gold in the team event, while both Fares Arfa and Shaul Gordon also earned bronze medals in men’s individual sabre. After competing in men’s individual sabre at Tokyo 2020, Gordon is thrilled to experience his second Olympic Games alongside teammates Arfa and Cauchon, who will both make their Olympic debuts.
“I am so appreciative of having the chance to participate in the Olympic Games, the grandest of stages. I am even more appreciative of being able to go there with my teammates and having the opportunity to prove ourselves in the team event. It’s been a while since Canadian men’s sabre had a team at the Olympic Games and we are working hard to make it memorable,” said Arfa.
Pamela Brind’Amour, the only Canadian who will be entered in women’s sabre, qualified for Paris 2024 based on her individual world ranking. The 31-year-old will make her Olympic debut in Paris after knee injuries sidelined her for much of the Tokyo 2020 qualification period. Brind’Amour has competed for Team Canada at three Pan American Games, including Santiago 2023 where she contributed to the silver medal won by the Canadian women’s sabre team.
“I’m so excited for the opportunity to represent Canada at the Olympic Games,” said Brind’Amour. “It’s always a proud feeling to represent your country. To wear the maple leaf at the Olympics is something that I dreamt of as a kid. Personally, my goal for the competition is to arrive hungry and ready to compete.”
Seventeen-year-old Nicholas Zhang qualified for his first Olympic Games with a dramatic overtime victory in the final of the FIE Pan American Zonal Qualification Event earlier this month in Costa Rica. Zhang was a recipient of the Canadian Olympic Foundation’s 2023 Future Olympians Fund award. He was also the youngest male athlete on Team Canada’s Santiago 2023 Pan American Games delegation, where he contributed to the silver medal won by Team Canada’s men’s épée team.
Men’s fencing has been contested at the Olympic Games dating back to Athens 1896. Women first competed in Olympic fencing at Paris 1924, but in individual foil only before a team event was added at Rome 1960. Women’s épée was added to the Olympic program at Atlanta 1996, followed by women’s individual sabre at Athens 2004. Canada has yet to win an Olympic medal in fencing.
“On behalf of the entire Canadian fencing family, I would like to express how proud I am of our athletes for their qualification for Paris 2024,” said David Howes, Executive Director of Canadian Fencing Federation. “It is because of the hard work and dedication of our athletes and coaches that we will have the largest team since 1988 when there were fewer restrictions to the number of teams that a country could send to the Olympics. I am looking forward to cheering on our athletes as they challenge the rest of the world in Paris.”
Fencing will take place July 27 to August 4 (Day 1 to 9) at the Grand Palais.
“I am absolutely thrilled for the fencing athletes who have been selected for the Paris 2024 Canadian Olympic Team. Their dedication and skill shine brightly and I can’t wait to see the sabre team’s grand return to the Olympic stage. Team Canada proves once again it’s all about teamwork,’’ said Bruny Surin, Team Canada’s Paris 2024 Chef de Mission.
Team Canada’s fencing team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games also includes the following coaches and support staff:
Julien Camus (Orleans, France) – Men’s Foil Coach
Jed Dupree (Philadelphia, USA) – Women’s Foil Coach
Igor Gantsevich (Richmond, B.C.) – Team Leader
Victor Gantsevich (Richmond, B.C.) – Épée Coach
Alex Martin (Calgary, Alta.) – Women’s Foil Coach
Arthur Zatko (Montreal, Que.) – Sabre Coach
Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organisations.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Maureen Griffin, High Performance Coordinator
Canadian Fencing Federation
E: hpc@fencing.ca
Tara MacBournie, Program Manager, Sport Communications
Canadian Olympic Committee
C: 647-522-8328
E: tmacbournie@olympic.ca