Eli Dershwitz (born September 23, 1995) is an American left-handed

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 ...

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 senior men's saber championship holder. Dershwitz then won the 2015 Junior World Fencing Championships in saber, becoming the inaugural U.S. men's saber fencer to win a world title. He is a four-time Pan-American Championship title holder, and the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

champion in saber. Dershwitz competed 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 returned to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

as a sophomore, winning individual saber in the 2017

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Fencing Championship and as a junior in the 2018 NCAA Fencing Championship. He won a silver medal in saber at the

2018 World Fencing Championships The 2018 World Fencing Championships was held from 19 to 27 July at 2018 in Wuxi, China. Host selection On 23 November 2015, Wuxi beat the Japanese city of Fukuoka with 69 votes to 47. Schedule Twelve events were held. ''All times are local (UT ...

. He was ranked #1 in the United States as of February 2018, and was ranked #1 in the world as of July 2018."Fencer Eli Dershwitz is ready to strike at Rio Olympics,"
''The Boston Globe''."Eli Dershwitz,"
usfencing.org. He was the youngest saber fencer among the world's top 25.

Early life and education

Dershwitz is Jewish, and was born and raised in

Sherborn, Massachusetts Sherborn is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Boston's MetroWest region, is in area code 508 and has the ZIP code 01770. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town population was 4,401. Sherborn shares its highly ...

."Meet The Jewish Harvard Student Going for Gold in Rio,"
''Hillel News''."Arthur Dershwitz Obituary - Boston, MA,"
''The Boston Globe''."Ruth Goetzler Obituary - Boston, MA,"
''The Boston Globe''. His parents are Renee Goetzler and Mark Dershwitz. His maternal grandparents, both

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

s, were Ruth (née Schmukler) Goetzler (born in

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Tarn� ...

, Poland, she survived

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

hidden in a barn by a Polish farmer) and Mark Goetzler (born in

Jasło Jasło is a county town in south-eastern Poland with 36,641 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2012. It is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), and it was previously part of Krosno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in Lesse ...

, Poland, he also lived in Samarkand, Uzbekistan). His paternal parents were Arthur Dershwitz and Tillie (née Segel) Dershwitz. He has an older brother (Phil, who fenced for Princeton University) and a twin sister (Sally, who competed in gymnastics and lacrosse).Eli Dershwitz
/ref>
''The Boston Globe''. He attended the Conservative synagogue Temple Israel of

Natick Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

, was bar mitzvah in 2008. Dershwitz played basketball and soccer up until the end of middle school."The Beat: Natick's Zeta Fencing truly a home of champions,"
''Milford Daily News''. He attended

Dover-Sherborn High School Dover-Sherborn High School, or DSHS, is a regional public high school in the town of Dover, Massachusetts, United States. It serves students from the towns of Dover and Sherborn, and is the senior school of the Dover-Sherborn Public School Distr ...

, graduating in 2014. He was a student at

, where he majored in history and graduated in 2019. He was a member of the varsity

Harvard Crimson fencing The Harvard Crimson fencing team is the intercollegiate fencing team for Harvard University located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The team competes in the Ivy League within the NCAA Division I. The university first fielded a team in 1888. History ...

team. As a freshman in 2014-15, he was a First Team All-American, All-

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

, and finished third at the

NCAA Fencing Championships The NCAA Fencing Championships are awarded at the annual tournament held in March to determine the NCAA's national collegiate individual and team championships in fencing. Individual champions are determined by performance during the NCAA fencing ...

with a 22-2 record. He was the seventh Harvard fencer to compete in the Olympics, with the prior two having been

Emily Cross Emily Ruth Cross (born October 15, 1986) is a U.S. foil fencer who was a member of the 2008 Olympics U.S. Women's foil team. She is best known for helping win the team foil silver medal for the U.S. at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, along with teamma ...

'09 (Team USA) and Noam Mills '12 (Team Israel), who both competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Dershwitz took off the 2015–16 school year to train full-time for the Olympics. As a sophomore in 2016-17, he was again a First Team All-American, All-Ivy League, and this time he won the NCAA Fencing Championship in men's saber, becoming the first fencer to win an NCAA fencing championship for Harvard since 2007. As a junior in 2017-18, he again won the NCAA Saber Fencing Championship. He became the first Harvard male fencer to win back-to-back NCAA championships, and was again voted an All American.

Fencing career

Dershwitz was ranked number 1 in saber in the United States, and number 10 in the world, as of the summer of 2016. In March 2016, US Olympic saber coach Zoran Tulum said: "Eli’s world ranking is remarkable... he is the youngest

aber Aber may refer to: Places * Aber and Inver (placename elements) * Aber, Ceredigion * Abergwyngregyn, popularly known by the short form "Aber" * Aberystwyth, popularly known by the short form "Aber" * Aber Village, Powys, Wales * Abergavenny, M ...

fencer among the world’s top 25." He was ranked #1 in the world as of July 201

He followed his older brother into fencing. Dershwitz has been coached since 2004 when he was 9 years old by Tulum, at the Zeta Fencing club in Natick, Massachusetts. Tulum coached the US men's saber team at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In February 2016, Dershwitz beat Russia's 2015 world champion

Alexey 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 ...

at the Warsaw World Cup."Meet New England’s Olympians,"
''The Boston Globe''. In March 2016, while winning the gold medal at the Seoul Grand Prix in South Korea, he defeated 2014 world silver medalist Gu Bon-gil of Korea in the quarterfinals, 2014 world champion Nikolay Kovalev of Russia in the semifinals, and Iranian Mojtaba Abedini in the final. In February 2017, Dershwitz won the individual saber Ivy League Championship. In March 2017, he won the individual saber in the 2017 NCAA Fencing Championships, and was again named a first-team All-American. In May 2017, Dershwitz won a silver medal at the Villa de Madrid, his first individual world cup medal."U.S. Fencer Eli Dershwitz Wins Career-First Individual World Cup Medal, A Silver"
/ref> By that time he had already won two gold and three silver team world cup medals from 2014–16, three junior world championships medals, a Pan American Games gold medal in 2015, and a grand prix gold medal in 2016. In June 2017 he won an individual saber silver medal at the 2017 Pan American Fencing Championships. In July 2017 he won the gold medal in saber at the

2017 Maccabiah Games The 2017 Maccabiah Games ( he, משחקי המכביה 2017), also referred to as the 20th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-20), were the 20th edition of the Maccabiah Games. They took place from 4 to 17 July 2017, in Israel. The Maccabiah ...

. In November 2017 he won a saber World Cup in Algeria (while he was the youngest of the top 25 saber fencers in the world). ' In February 2018 (while ranked 6th in the world) he beat two-time Olympic champion

Áron Szilágyi Áron Szilágyi (; born 14 January 1990) is a Hungarian right-handed sabre fencer. Szilágyi is a 2018 team European champion, 2015 individual European champion, 2007 team world champion, and 2022 individual world champion. A four-time Oly ...

of Hungary to win the saber fencing World Cup event in

Padua, Italy Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, and in April 2018 he won a bronze medal at a men's saber grand prix in Seoul, South Korea. In February 2019 he won the gold medal at the Men's Saber World Cup in Warsaw, Poland. After his win, he posted on his instagram account: "Amazing and emotional day as my mother told me this morning that my Polish grandparents, who came to America 75 years ago, would be watching over me today."

US Championship competitions

In March 2013, Dershwitz was the top-ranked US junior saber fencer. In April 2014, Dershwitz won the US Men's Saber National Championship, becoming the youngest-ever US senior men's saber champion. As of July 1, 2016, he was ranked #1 in the United States, ahead of teammate Daryl Homer.">"Eli Dershwitz,"
''The Harvard Crimson''.

World Championship competitions

Dershwitz was the 2015 Under-20 World Saber Champion. He was the only American men's saber fencer to win a world title. He is a five-time

Junior World Fencing Championships The World Cadets and Juniors Fencing Championships are an annual international fencing competition held by the International Fencing Federation. History Junior World Fencing Championships for athletes up to 20 years old. Also at the same time an ...

and Cadet World Championships team member. He won a silver medal at the 2012 Junior World Championships, a bronze medal at the 2013 Junior World Championships, and the gold medal at the 2015 Junior World Fencing Championships—the first title for a US men's saber fencer at the junior world championships. In March 2013, Dershwitz was the number-two-ranked world junior saber fencer. In 2013, Dershwitz fenced in men's sabre at the 2013 World Fencing Championships, where he finished 36th after a 15-12 loss to Matyas Szabo (Germany). He was also the youngest member of the US national team in 2013, at 17 years of age. Dershwitz also competed in men's sabre at the 2014 World Fencing Championships in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

, Russia, in men's sabre at the 2015 World Fencing Championships in Moscow, Russia, and in the 2016 Senior Team World Championships in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. He won a silver medal in saber at the

in China.

Pan American Games and Pan American Championships

Dershwitz is a four-time Pan-American Champion. He won individual gold medals at the

2014 Pan American Fencing Championships The 2014 Pan American Fencing Championships were held in San José, Costa Rica from 1 June to 6 June 2014. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table References {{Pan American Fencing Championships 2014 Pan American Fencing Champi ...

in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the

2015 Pan American Fencing Championships The 2015 Pan American Fencing Championships were held at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, National Sports Stadium, in Santiago de Chile, from 17 to 26 April 2015. The event was organized by the Pan American Fencing Confederation and t ...

in Santiago, Chile. He also won team gold medals in the 2013 Pan American Fencing Championships in Cartagena, Colombia, and the

2016 Pan American Fencing Championships The 2016 Pan American Fencing Championships were being held at the Convention Center Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in Panama City from 21 to 26 June 2016. The event was organized by the Pan American Fencing Confederation and the National Fencing Associatio ...

Panama City, Panama Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is loca ...

. Dershwitz also won gold medals in both individual and team saber in

fencing at the 2015 Pan American Games Fencing competitions at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto were held from July 20 to 25 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House). Due to naming rights, the arena was known as the latter for t ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Canada.

Olympics

Dershwitz competed at the

2016 Rio Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

, on August 10. He qualified by being in the top 14 of the FIE adjusted official ranking list, and was the youngest member of the US Olympic fencing team. He said, "I am excited to represent my country... at a sporting event that brings the entire world together in peace." Dershwitz Commented on his rise from a viewer of the Games as a teenager, "just to think that in three short years ... it can go from watching on a computer screen ... screaming in my pajamas at 3 in the morning to actually being on the biggest stage in sports, it’s so hard to picture. But now it’s all I think about." Dershwitz lost to Seppe van Holsbeke of Belgium in the opening competition round of the Olympics men's sabre, 15-12, who advanced to the Round of 16. He returned to Harvard University as a sophomore six days following the

2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony The closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics was held on 21 August 2016 from 20:00 to 22:50 BRT at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As per traditional Olympic protocol, the ceremony featured cultural presentations from both th ...

. He has fenced for the United States in fencing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, losing in the round of 16 to Kim Jung-Hwan of Korea, who went on to win the bronze medal.

20th Maccabiah Games 2017

In 2017, Dershwitz represented the United States, fencing sabre at the

held in Israel. He was awarded the honor of being a banner bearer during the Opening Ceremony, and came back with two gold medals. He won the individual men's saber event, beating Harvard teammate Philippe Guy in the finals. In the team event, Dershwitz competed alongside Philippe Guy, Ben Stone, and Matt Rothenberg. They beat Hungary in the semi-finals, and defeated their hosts, Israel, in the finals.

References

External links

Eli Dershwitz official Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dershwitz, Eli 1995 births Living people American male sabre fencers Harvard Crimson fencers Jewish male sabre fencers American people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish American sportspeople Competitors at the 2017 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Maccabiah Games medalists in fencing American people of Uzbekistani-Jewish descent Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers of the United States People from Sherborn, Massachusetts Fencers at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States American twins Twin sportspeople Pan American Games medalists in fencing World Fencing Championships medalists Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics