Emily Ruth Cross (born October 15, 1986) is a U.S. foil fencer who was a member of the

2008 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 Nati ...

U.S. Women's foil team. She is best known for helping win the team foil

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 ...

for the U.S. at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, along with teammates

Erinn Smart Erinn Smart (born January 12, 1980Erinn Smart
, USA Fencing. Accessed July 27, 2012.) is an American fen ...

and

Hanna Thompson Hanna Thompson (born November 1, 1983 in Rochester, New York) is an American foil fencer who was a member of the 2008 Olympics U.S. Women's foil team, which won the silver medal. A 2006 graduate of Ohio State University, Thompson was a four-t ...

. Born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Cross attended the

Brearley School The Brearley School is an all-girls private school in New York City, located on the Upper East Side neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan. The school is divided into lower (kindergarten – grade 4), middle (grades 5–8) and upper (grades 9 ...

in New York City. Cross' mother was a high-school placement counselor of Korean descent. Her father Fred Cross, a professor in cell genetics, introduced Emily and her brother to Sam to fencing first at Metropolis Fencing Club and then at the NY

Fencers Club The Fencers Club in Midtown, Manhattan, New York City, is the oldest fencing club in the Western Hemisphere. It is a member of the Metropolitan Division of the U.S. Fencing Association. Established in Manhattan in 1883, it has evolved into a 501(c ...

. Her coach is Michael Petin. She graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

(Bachelor of Arts in Biology) and the

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

, and is currently a

pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

resident at

Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...

. At Harvard she was Academic 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 schools ...

in 2004-05, and 2005-06. "Emily Cross"
/ref> She was also a co-recipient of the Radcliffe Prize as Harvard's top female athlete, and as its top female scholar-athlete she received the Harvard-Radcliffe Foundation for Women's Athletics Prize."Emily Cross to be Inducted Into USA Fencing Hall of Fame" - Harvard
/ref> In 2001 she won a bronze medal at the USA Fencing National Championships (Division I). She won a silver medal at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

. In 2004, she won gold medals in both the U19 Foil and U19 Epee at the USA Fencing National Championships. In 2005, she won gold medals at the Junior World Championships,

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 ...

Championships (Individual; the first Harvard and fifth Ivy woman to win an NCAA fencing title), and USA Fencing National Championships (both Division I and U19). In 2006, she won gold medals at the NCAA Championships (Team) and the Junior World Championships (Team). In 2007, she won a bronze medal in the Pan American Championships. In 2008, in addition to her Olympic performance, she won a gold medal at the Pan American Championships.

Career

Cross competed in her first national tournament at age 11.

Miscellaneous

Cross has stated that her favorite person to fence is Italian foil superstar

Giovanna Trillini Giovanna Trillini (born 17 May 1970 in Iesi) is an Italian Foil (fencing), foil fencing, fencer. She is a 4-time Olympic champion (3 times in the team event, 1 time individual) and she won an additional silver and two bronze medals in individual ...

.">"15 Questions With Emily R. Cross '08" , ''The Harvard Crimson''
/ref>

References

Cross Helps Americans to Surprise Silver
* 1986 births Harvard Crimson fencers Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in fencing Living people American female foil fencers Sportspeople from New York City Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in fencing Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Brearley School alumni Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Harvard College alumni Fencers at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century American women American sportspeople of Korean descent {{US-fencing-bio-stub