Jason Pryor (born September 26, 1987) is an American

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 contain ...

fencer. He earned two individual bronze medals and a team gold medal at the

Pan American Fencing Championships The Pan American Fencing Championships ( es, link=no, Campeonato Panamericano de Esgrima; french: link=no, Championnats Panaméricains) are an annual top-level fencing tournament organized by the Pan American Fencing Confederation. They serve as zo ...

in 2014 and 2015, as well as an individual bronze medal and a team silver medal at 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 alb ...

. He represented the United States in épée at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio de Janeiro.

Biography

Pryor's first sport was

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. He took up fencing when he was 11 after hearing about the sport from a friend. He was taught by coach Bill Reith at the Alcazar Fencing Club. He was later recruited by the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, winning a team title in his junior year and earning twice All-American honors. In 2009 he graduated with a degree in English, hoping to pursue a career as a writer. As a graduation present his parents paid for his travel expenses to the Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix, his first international competition, where he was scouted by USA Fencing. He then joined the resident athlete program at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. In the 2012–13 season he joined the USA national senior team. The same year, he won a silver medal at the USA National Championships and took part in his first

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, ...

. The following season he won his first medal in a major international competition, a bronze at the 2014 Pan American Championships in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Central Valley, within San José Canton. San ...

, followed by another bronze in the team event. In the 2014–15 season he won the USA National Championships. He reached the quarter-finals at the 2015 Pan American Championships in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

and earned a gold medal in the team competition together with

Benjamin Bratton Benjamin Bratton (born in Queens, New York) is a three-time fencing all-American and a former member of the United States fencing team. As a national team member, he competed in the 2006 World Fencing Championships in Turin, Italy; 200 ...

Jimmy Moody James Alfred Moody (27 February 1941 – 1 June 1993) was an English gangster and hitman whose career spanned more than four decades and included run-ins with Jack Spot, Billy Hill, "Mad" Frankie Fraser, the Krays, the Richardsons and the Provi ...

and

Ari Simmons Ari may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ari (name), a name in various languages, including a list of people and fictional characters * Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572), Jewish rabbinical scholar and mystic known also as Ari * Ari (foo ...

. A few months later he took part in the

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 ancho ...

. He reached the semifinals, where he was defeated by reigning Olympic champion

Rubén Limardo Rubén Dario Limardo Gascón (born August 3, 1985) is a Venezuelan left-handed épée fencer, five-time team Pan American champion, four-time individual Pan American champion, three-time Olympian, and 2012 individual Olympic champion. Limardo ...

. In the team event the United States lost to Venezuela in the final, leaving Pryor with a silver medal. In the 2015–16 season he secured his

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

to the

as the highest ranked fencer from the Americas zone in the FIE Adjusted Official Ranking. At the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he placed 22nd in individual épée. At the 2016 Pan American Games in Panama, Pryor took the silver medal after being defeated by Yunior Reytor Venet of Cuba in the finals.

References

External links

jasonpryor.org
Pryor's official web page
Profile
at USA Fencing
Profile
at OhioStateBuckeyes.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pryor, Jason American male épée fencers Living people 1987 births Sportspeople from Cleveland Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Olympic fencers for the United States Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in fencing Fencers at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games

Biography

See also

References

External links