Alexandre Bouzaid (born 29 June 1981) is a French-Senegalese

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 ...

fencer representing Senegal in international competitions. Twice African champion (2010 and 2011), he took part in 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 ...

Career

Bouzaid was born in

Kaolack Kaolack ( ar, كاولاك; wo, Kawlax) is a town of 172,305 people (2002 census) on the north bank of the Saloum River and the N1 road in Senegal. It is the capital of the Kaolack Region, which borders The Gambia to the south. Kaolack is an i ...

, Senegal, but raised in

Libourne Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émil ...

, near

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, in France. He is of Lebanese descent. He began fencing at the age of four at his local club. He became won the French national championship for his age class in 1996. Two years later he earned a gold medal at the Cadet World Championships in

Valencia, Venezuela Valencia () is the capital city of Carabobo State and the third-largest city in Venezuela. The city is an economic hub that contains Venezuela's top industries and manufacturing companies. It is also the largest city in the Valencia-Maracay m ...

. He reached the final five times out of six participations at the 1999 Junior World Cup. After his

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

Bouzaid transferred to the Saint-Gratien fencing club in the Paris area and undertook physical education studies at

INSEP INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance (Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance), is a French training institute and center for excellence in sports that trains elite athletes. It is located on th ...

, a state-sponsored institute for high-performance athletes. He later turned to

business studies Business studies, often simply called business, is a field of study that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource management, a ...

at ESG Management School, then at

ESSEC Business School The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 190 ...

. He won a team silver medal at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, ...

and an individual silver medal at the senior French championships. After he failed to qualify to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Bouzaid, who holds

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

, decided to fence for Senegal. He won the 2010 African Championships after defeating Egypt's Ahmed Nabil and posted a last-16 finish at the 2010 World Championships and 2011. His second straight gold medal at the 2011 African Championships against Egypt's

Ayman Mohamed Fayez Ayman Mohamed Fayez or Ayman Alaa Eldin Mohamed Fayez (born 3 March 1991 Giza, Egypt) is an Egyptian fencer who competed in the 2012 Olympics and 2016 Olympics in Men's Individual Épée. Fayez was African champion in 2009, 2012 and 2017, also w ...

qualified him to the

as the top-ranked African fencer. In London he defeated 15–9 Poland's

Radosław Zawrotniak Radosław Aleksander Zawrotniak (born 2 September 1981 in Kraków, Małopolskie) is a Polish fencer who won a silver medal in Men's Team Épée (Fencing) at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, together with Tomasz Motyka, Adam Wiercioch, and ...

in the first round, but lost 11–15 to reigning World champion Paolo Pizzo of Italy.

References

External links

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouzaid, Alexandre 1981 births Living people Senegalese male épée fencers French male épée fencers People from Kaolack People from Libourne French people of Lebanese descent Senegalese people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers for Senegal Sportspeople from Gironde