Noam Mills ( he, נעם מילס; born May 27, 1986) is an Israeli fencer, who competed in the individual women's

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 contains ...

event for

Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This was Israel's fourteenth participation in the Summer Olympics. Israel sent 43 athletes to compete in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, with the previous ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. She is a three-time junior Israeli champion in épée, and a four-time senior Israeli champion. In 2006, she was the No. 1 ranked female junior épée fencer in the world, and won the épée title at the

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 and ...

. Mills won the silver medal in épée representing Israel at the 2007 Summer Universiade. Competing for the Harvard's Women's Fencing Team, she came in second in 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 three times, in 2008-11. She also won the bronze medal at the

2010 European Fencing Championships The 2010 European Fencing Championships was the 23rd edition and was held in Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the ...

in women's épée.

Early life

Mills was born in

Hod Hasharon Hod HaSharon ( he, הוֹד הַשָּׁרוֹן, lit. "Splendor of the Sharon, Israel, Sharon plain") is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. The city is located approximately east of the Mediterranean coastline, s ...

, and grew up in

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba i ...

, Israel, and is Jewish."European Fencing Championships; Israel's Noam Mills slashes way to historic bronze medal,"
''Haaretz''. She attended Mosenzon High School in Kfar Saba.

Fencing career

Mills began practicing

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

at the age of 11, and became a member of

Hapoel Kfar Saba Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל כפר סבא, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Kfar Saba'') is an Israeli football club based in Kfar Saba. The club competes in the Liga Leumit and plays home matches at Levita Stadiu ...

, a local fencing club in Israel. During her career, she won three junior national championship titles in épée. She won the Israel senior women's fencing épée championship four times, in 2005-08. Her coach in Israel has been Ohad Balva. Mills commented on fencing: "Being strong is not enough. Fencing is like playing chess while running a 100 metre race, and it is a chess part that I like most of all." In 2006, she made her international debut by winning the épée title at the

. That year, Mills was the No. 1 ranked female junior épée fencer in the world. Mills won a silver medal in épée representing Israel at the 2007 Summer Universiade in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

, losing out to Ukraine's

Yana Shemyakina Yana Volodymyrivna Shemyakina ( uk, Яна Володимирівна Шемякіна; born 5 January 1986)

2008 European Fencing Championships The 2008 European Fencing Championships were held in Kyiv, Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northea ...

in Kiev, Ukraine. Mills qualified for the

2008 Summer 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 Na ...

in Beijing, after finishing 7th at the 2007

European Fencing Championships The European Fencing Championships is an annual top-level European fencing competition organized by the European Fencing Confederation. History The first competition bearing the name of "European Fencing Championships" was held in Paris in 1921. T ...

Prague, Czech Republic Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oc ...

."Harvard fencer Emily Cross to represent U.S. in Beijing,"
''Harvard Gazette''. She became the first female Israeli fencer to compete in the épée event at an Olympic level, despite falling short of the qualifying criteria by the

Olympic Committee of Israel The Olympic Committee of Israel (Hebrew: הוועד האולימפי בישראל) is the recognized National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Israel, and the governing body of Olympic sports in Israel. The OCI's headquarters is located at the Natio ...

, as it allowed her to be added to the delegation by allocating to her one of the three spots it reserved for promising youngsters. Along with

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 ...

, she became the first

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 higher le ...

female fencers, and 14th and 15th in

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 ...

history, to qualify for the Olympics. Mills competed for

Israel at the 2008 Olympics Israel competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This was Israel's fourteenth participation in the Summer Olympics. Israel sent 43 athletes to compete in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, with the previou ...

in Women's épée at the age of 22. She faced three-time Olympic medalist

Laura Flessel-Colovic Laura Flessel-Colovic (born 6 November 1971) is a French politician and épée fencer who served as Minister of Sports from 2017 to 2018. Born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, she has won the most Olympic medals of any French sportswoman, with f ...

of France in the First Round of the competition. Mills suffered an anticipated defeat with a score of 8–15, failing to advance into the next round. After the Olympics, Mills pursued a bachelor's degree in economics, with a minor in

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

, at Harvard University. She competed as the member of Harvard's Women's Fencing Team, and as a freshman in 2008-09 came in second at the

Fencing Championships in women's épée to

Courtney Hurley Courtney Hurley (born September 30, 1990) is an American fencer. She won a bronze medal in the women's team épée alongside Maya Lawrence, Susie Scanlan, and Kelley Hurley at the 2012 Summer Olympics. A standout at the University of Notre Da ...

. She was named a First-Team All-American, and All-

. As a sophomore in 2009-10, she was team captain and again came in second at the NCAA Fencing Championships. She was again named a First-Team All-American, and All-Ivy League. As a junior in 2010-11, she again came in second at the NCAA Fencing Championships, and was again an All-American. In 2011, she received the Ivy League NCAA Elite 89 Award, established by the NCAA to recognize the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals for each of the NCAA's 89 championships, with a 3.86

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

.">"Winter Elite 88 selections announced,"
NCAA.com. In 2009, she took 7th at the

2009 European Fencing Championships The 2009 European Fencing Championships was held at the International Fair Plovdiv in Plovdiv, Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situate ...

in women's épée in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Mills competed at the

in Leipzig, Germany, where she won the bronze medal in individual épée. She lost 15-14 in the Round of 32 at the

2011 World Fencing Championships The 2011 World Fencing Championships was held at Catania, Italy from 8–16 October. Medal table Men's events Women's events External links FIEOfficial website {{World Fencing Championships World Fencing Championships W Fencing Cham ...

to eventual silver medalist,

Sun Yujie Sun Yujie (; born 10 August 1992) is a Chinese fencer. At 2012 Summer Olympics she won gold medal in team épée with Li Na, Luo Xiaojuan and Xu Anqi and a bronze in Women's individual épée. She won the 2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is ...

of China.

References

External links

*
Noam Mills
at NBColympics.com (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Noam 1986 births Living people Israeli female épée fencers Jewish female épée fencers Jewish sportswomen Olympic fencers of Israel Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in fencing Harvard University alumni People from Hod HaSharon People from Kfar Saba Universiade silver medalists for Israel Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade

Early life

Fencing career

See also

References

External links