James Leighman Williams (born September 22, 1985, in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

) is an American fencer.

College career

Williams is a graduate of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He fenced for the Columbia Lions fencing team. In his college freshman year, he posted a record of 18–3. Coming into Columbia he was ranked 8th nationally in Junior men's sabre, and 19th in Senior men's sabre. Williams originally began fencing with the Sacramento Fencing Club. After graduating from high school, James moved to New York to attend Columbia University. He graduated in 2007 with a B.A. in United States History and Russian Studies. In 2006 in his junior year he received All-American status, after placing 5th at the

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. He placed 1st in sabre at the North American Cup. He also finished 4th at the NCAA Regionals, and was named 1st team 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 ...

after winning 14 of 15 Ivy League bouts.

Competitions

He twice finished 7th in the Junior "A" World Cup. Finished 5th at the World Cup in Louisville, and was 3rd in Under-19 Junior men's saber in 2001. In 2003 he finished 2nd in the same event, as well as 17th in Division I. He was National Champion in 2012. In the

2008 Beijing 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 Nat ...

, he was a substitute, but competed in the gold medal bout against France. He faced Nicolas Lopez (3-5),

Julien Pillet Julien Pillet (born 28 September 1977 in Dijon, Côte-d'Or) is a French sabre fencer. He is a three-time Olympic medalist as he won the gold in the team event at the 2004 Summer Olympics and also at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He also won the ...

(5-5), and

Boris Sanson Boris Sanson (born 7 December 1980 in Bordeaux, France) is a French sabre fencer. Sanson won the gold medal in the sabre team event at the 2006 World Fencing Championships in Turin after beating Spain in the final. He accomplished thi ...

(2-5) in the bout. The U.S overall lost 45 – 37. He competed on the US team at the

2012 London 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 ...

where he hoped to "visit a couple pubs...win another medal... nddevelop a passable British accent." As well as competing in the team event, which he said was his main goal, he competed in the men's individual sabre event. In the individual event, he reached the second round where he lost to eventual bronze medal winner, Nikolay Kovalev. The US men's sabre team were knocked out by the Russian team, also featuring Kovalev, in the quarter-final.

References

External links

James Williams on Columbia's Website

James Williams on Columbia's Bwog

James Williams Elected to Academic All Ivy Team

James Williams in the New York Post

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, James Leighman American male sabre fencers Living people 1985 births Columbia Lions fencers Columbia College (New York) alumni Fencers at the 2007 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2011 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in fencing Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games