Alexander Choupenitch (; born 2 May 1994) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

right-handed

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

fencer, two-time Olympian, and 2021 individual Olympic bronze medalist.

Personal life

Choupenitch is the son of Belarusian-born opera singers who both worked at

National Theatre Brno The National Theatre Brno ( cs, Národní divadlo Brno) is an opera, ballet and drama company in the Czech Republic, that nation's second busiest. It was established in 1884 on the model of the National Theatre company in Prague. Today it runs th ...

. The unusual form of his name–Choupenitch instead of Šupenič–is due to the fact that papers issued to his parents for travelling through Europe used a French spelling. His first sport, basketball, left him frustrated as he seldom got to touch the ball, so his mother took him to the fencing section of Sokol Brno when he was eight. He later learnt that his step-grandmother,

Tatyana Petrenko-Samusenko Tatyana Petrenko-Samusenko (russian: Татьяна Дмитриевна Петренко-Самусенко; 2 November 1938 – 24 January 2000) was a Soviet fencer. She won gold medals in the team foil event at the 1960, 1968 and 1972 Summer ...

, was a three-time Olympic foil champion for the USSR.

Foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

was the only option offered at the club, but he later explained that foil is indeed his favourite weapon, being the more realistic and striking the best balance between

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

's speed and

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains ...

's tactics. His first coach was Dmitri Romankov, who also trained Belarusian fencer

Siarhei Byk Siarhei Byk ( be, Сергей Александрович Бык; born 8 July 1990) is a Belarusian foil fencer, member of the national team. Byk earned a silver medal in the 2011 U23 European Championships in Kazan and a bronze medal in the 201 ...

. Choupenitch's other favourite sports are

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

. He also plays the piano. He interrupted his studies at the

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the seco ...

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

to focus on sport. In April 2015 he gained a sponsorship from

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

Career

Choupenitch won his first international distinctions in 2011 with a gold medal at the Cadet European Championships in Klagenfurt and a bronze medal in the Cadet World Championships at the Dead Sea. As a junior, he earned the silver medal in the 2012 Junior World Championships in Poreč and won the Junior World Cup the same year. The next season, he took the silver medal in the Junior European Championships in Budapest and a bronze medal in the World Championships in Poreč; he also finished first of the Junior World Cup for the second year in a row. He won in 2014 the Junior European Championships in Jerusalem and earned a silver medal in the Junior World Championships in Plovdiv after losing the final to China's

Chen Haiwei Chen Haiwei (; born 30 December 1994) is a Chinese competitive foil fencer. He has won three medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze) at the Asian Fencing Championships, two medals (one silver, one bronze) at the Asian Games, and two medals ( ...

. Choupenitch also fences as a senior since

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. For his first participation in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Catania in 2011 he was eliminated in the first round by Japan's

Yuki Ota is a Japanese foil fencer, gold medallist at the 2006 Asian Games, silver medallist at the 2008 Summer Olympics, team silver medallist at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and individual gold medallist at the 2015 World Fencing Championships. He is a m ...

. At the age of 17 he aimed for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, but he was defeated by Romania's

Radu Dărăban Radu Dărăban (born 26 June 1983) is a Romanian fencer. In the 2012 Summer Olympics he competed in the Men's foil, but was defeated in the second round. Career Dărăban began fencing at age 9 at his local club, CSM Cluj, where he was train ...

in the quarter-finals of the qualifying tournament in Bratislava. At the beginning of the 2013–14 season Choupenitch transferred from Sokol Brno to CS Fides in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, Italy, to train under Paolo Paoletti. He reached the final at the

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

World Cup before being defeated by China's

Ma Jianfei Ma Jianfei (, born 29 July 1984) is a Chinese fencer, silver medallist in the 2014 World Fencing Championships at Kazan and team silver medallist in the 2011 World Fencing Championships at Catania. He won the 2013–14 Fencing World Cup. He wen ...

and ended up with a silver medal. His victory during the tournament over Olympic champion

Andrea Baldini Andrea Baldini (born 19 December 1985) is an Italian Foil (fencing), foil fencing, fencer, several time European and World champion and team Olympic champion in 2012. He is the only foil fencer in history to have obtained four golds (European and ...

encouraged him to believe he could become a champion in his own right. A few weeks later he lost again against Ma in the

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Grand Prix, this time in the semi-final, and took a bronze medal. In the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, he reached the quarter-finals, but was defeated 13–15 by Great Britain's

James-Andrew Davis James-Andrew Davis (born 3 July 1991) is a British fencer, European champion in 2014. He competed in men's foil at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Career Davis was born and brought up in Barnet, North London. He became interested in fenci ...

, who eventually won the gold medal. At the

in Kazan, he lost in the quarter-finals to China's

, who eventually won the silver medal. Choupenitch finished the season No.5 in world rankings, gaining 76 ranks compared to 2012–13 season. In the 2014–15 season Choupenitch won a silver medal at the Shanghai Grand Prix, losing in the final to the USA's

Miles Chamley-Watson Miles Chamley-Watson, (born December 3, 1989) is a British-born American right-handed foil fencer, 11-time team Pan American champion, 2019 team world champion, 2013 individual world champion, two-time Olympian, and 2016 team Olympic bronze m ...

Medal Record

Olympic Games

European Championship

Grand Prix

World Cup

References

External links

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archive
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Profile
at Redbull.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Choupenitch, Alexander 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Brno Czech people of Belarusian descent Czech male fencers Olympic fencers of the Czech Republic Fencers at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics European Games competitors for the Czech Republic Fencers at the 2015 European Games Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic medalists in fencing