Daryl Homer (born July 16, 1990) is an American right-handed
saber
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 the ...
fencer, three-time
Olympian, and 2016 individual Olympic silver medalist.
Homer competed in the
2012 London Olympic Games
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 ...
, the
2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and the
2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
.
Homer is an eight-time team Pan American champion and three-time individual Pan American champion.
Personal life
Homer was born on
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Thomas ( da, Sankt Thomas) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea which, together with Saint John, Water Island, Hassel Island, and Saint Croix, form a county-equivalent and constituent district of the United States Virgi ...
, to Juliette Smith and Daryl Homer.
At the age of five, Homer moved to New York City with his mother and younger sister D’Meca, to an apartment on Gun Hill Road in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
. Homer attended Public School 21 there before going to
Salesian High School in
New Rochelle
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...
. He eventually graduated from
St. John’s University, with a degree in advertising communications. He now works for advertising and marketing agency Anomaly.
Homer speaks to
inner city
The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...
youth about balancing his career with his athletic passions. He is a
brand ambassador
A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person engaged by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to emb ...
at Fencing in the Schools, a
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
that aims to enrich the lives of students in the inner city through fencing. The program focuses on the health benefits, life skills, and exposure fencing can provide students in impoverished neighborhoods.
Fencing career
Homer started fencing at the age of 11, after happening on a picture of a masked fencer in the dictionary, and finding it "very cool".
He joined the
Peter Westbrook Foundation
Peter Jonathan Westbrook (born April 16, 1952) is an American former sabre fencing champion, active businessman and founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation. A former U.S. champion and Olympic medalist, Westbrook's career began when his Japanes ...
in New York City, a program dedicated to exposing
inner city
The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...
youth to fencing started by six-time Olympian and
1984 Olympic bronze medalist
Peter Westbrook
Peter Jonathan Westbrook (born April 16, 1952) is an American former sabre fencing champion, active businessman and founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation. A former U.S. champion and Olympic medalist, Westbrook's career began when his Japanes ...
.
Homer chose saber because Westbrook himself had been a sabreur.
Homer was quickly identified as a talented athlete, and began working with four-time Olympic coach
Yury Gelman
Yury Gelman (born October 13, 1955) is a Ukrainian-born American five-time Olympic fencing coach for the United States (Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, and Rio 2016), National Men's Sabre Coach, and Head Fencing Coach for 2001 NCAA champion St. ...
immediately. He won a bronze medal at the
2007 Cadet World Fencing Championships, and another bronze at the 2009
Junior World Championships in Belfast. That same year he competed in his first senior
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
Antalya
Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...
, finishing 23rd, and took the
NCAA title as a sophomore.
In the
2009–10 season Homer defended successfully his NCAA title. At the
2010 World Championships in Paris he defeated successively France's
Boladé Apithy
Boladé Apithy (born August 21, 1985 in Dijon, France) is a French right-handed sabre fencer.
His brother Yémi is also a sabre fencer; he represents Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (fre ...
and
Nicolas Lopez to reach the round of 16, and finished 12th. The next season, he won the gold medal at the
2011 Pan American Championships.
He
redshirted
Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...
the following season to train 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 ...
, for which he
qualified as a member of the top-ranked team of the Americas zone. In the
individual event he defeated 15–9 Romania's
Tiberiu Dolniceanu
Tiberiu Dolniceanu (; born 3 April 1988) is a Romanian sabre fencer, European champion in 2013 and bronze medal in the 2013 World championships. As part of Romania's sabre team, he won the team silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics and th ...
in the first round, then had a narrow 15–14 victory of world No. 2, Russia's
Aleksey Yakimenko
)
, nationality = Russian
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russian SFSR, USSR
, height = 1.84 m
, weight = 78 kg
, weapon = Sabre
, hand = left-handed
, club = Dynamo ...
. He lost 15–14 in the quarter-finals to another Romanian,
Rareș Dumitrescu
Rareș Dumitrescu (; born 24 December 1983 in Brașov) is a Romanian sabre fencer, World silver medal in 2009. With the Romanian team he was European champion in 2006, World champion in 2009 and Olympic team silver medal in 2012.
Personal life ...
, and finished sixth.
In the
team event, the USA lost to Russia in the quarter-finals and finished eighth.
He finished the
2011–12 season no. 12 in
FIE rankings.
![Dolniceanu v Homer 2015 WCh SMS-IN t193059](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Dolniceanu_v_Homer_2015_WCh_SMS-IN_t193059.jpg)
Homer maintained this ranking in the
next season thanks to three quarter-final placings in the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
and a bronze medal at the
2013 Pan American Championships. He placed 11th at the end of the
2013–14 season. In the
2014–15 season he climbed his first World Cup podium with a bronze medal in the Seoul Grand Prix.
As of July 1, 2016, he was ranked #2 in the United States, behind Team USA teammate
Eli Dershwitz
Eli Dershwitz (born September 23, 1995) is an American left-handed sabre fencer, four-time individual Pan American champion, and two-time Olympian.
In 2014, Dershwitz won the US Men's Saber National Championship, becoming the youngest US senio ...
.
He competed for the United States in
fencing at the 2016 Summer Olympics
The fencing competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 14 August at the Carioca Arena 3 inside the Barra Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca. Around 212 fencers (an equal distribution between men and women; of wh ...
. He won the
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
. He became the first U.S. medalist in men's saber since Peter Westbrook won a bronze medal in 1984 and the first U.S. men's silver medalist since
William Grebe in 1904. The U.S. has never won gold in men's saber.
[http://www.teamusa.org/News/2016/August/10/Daryl-Homer-Scores-Team-USAs-First-Mens-Saber-Silver-Since-1904/ ] Shortly after his Olympic silver medal, he left long-time coach
Yury Gelman
Yury Gelman (born October 13, 1955) is a Ukrainian-born American five-time Olympic fencing coach for the United States (Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, and Rio 2016), National Men's Sabre Coach, and Head Fencing Coach for 2001 NCAA champion St. ...
and the
Manhattan Fencing Center for another coach.
He qualified to represent the
United States in fencing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.
Medal Record
Olympic Games
World Championship
Pan American Championship
Grand Prix
World Cup
See also
*
List of USFA Division I National Champions This is a list of USA Fencing (USFA) Division I national champions. The Division I National Championship in each weapon was contested at Summer Nationals until recently, when it started taking place during the April North American Cup.
Men's Fenci ...
References
External links
*
Fencing in the Schoolsprogram
Facebook Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Homer, Daryl
American male sabre fencers
Living people
1990 births
Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Fencers at the 2015 Pan American Games
People from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Sportspeople from the Bronx
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in fencing
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
American people of United States Virgin Islands descent
Pan American Games medalists in fencing
Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States
Friends Seminary alumni
St. John's University (New York City) alumni
Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games
Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics