Eleanor Harvey Wins Canada’s First Ever Olympic Medal in Fencing

Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey has won Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in fencing. The 29-year-old Calgary resident won the bronze in the women’s individual foil on Sunday.

Harvey topped Italy’s Alice Volpi 15-12 for the win. “I feel like I’m in a dream. I still can’t believe it”, said Harvey.

In the first period, Harvey built up a 9-4 lead, but in the second period Volpi surged to level the score 10-10. However, Harvey won the next three points and went on to clinch the medal. “I feel like I’m in a dream, I feel like somebody spiked my drink or something. That’s a joke. Sorry, I’m not funny right now. I’m in shock.”

“When I scored the last point, I couldn’t believe it. It is a very strange surreal feeling.” She paid tribute to her mother for all the sacrifices made for her. She said “she’s made a lot of sacrifices for me. So, it’s really, really cool that she was able to be here and watch me have the best fencing result of my life.”

Harvey who began fencing at age 10 says, “She pretty much paid for all the fencing when I was younger, before I had any support, by herself. She had to sell her house to afford to send me to tournaments, and we had to move in with my grandma. My grandma would sleep on a couch, so that I could have a bed. So, it’s not just my mom.”

Paris 2024 is Harvey’s third Olympics. In 2016, she finished seventh in women’s individual foil at Rio and came fifth in women’s team foil at the Tokyo Games.

Meanwhile, Swimmer Summer McIntosh won Canada’s first medal of the Games, a silver medal, in the women’s 400-metre freestyle on Saturday.

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