Peter Jacobs (born 26 September 1938) is a British épée fencer who competed at the Olympics.

Early and personal life

Jacobs was born in

Pinner Pinner is a London suburb in the London borough of Harrow, Greater London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 31,130 in 2011. Originally a med ...

, Greater London, Great Britain, to Jewish parents.Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, Roy Silver
''Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports''
/ref> He attended

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, where he studied Classics.

Fencing career

Jacobs was a three-time fencing

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from 1960–62, and was on the winning team each time. In 1960, he became the first post-war undergraduate to win the UK’s oldest épée competition, the Miller-Hallett Cup. He also won the Universities Athletic Union épée title in 1961. Having missed out on a medal by a single hit at the 1961 Summer Universiade in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Jacobs won the épée title two years later at the 1963 event in

Porto Alegre, Brazil Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fift ...

. In between the two Universiades he was a three times British fencing champion winning the épée title at the

British Fencing Championships The British Fencing Championships are held annually to determine the British champion. The Championships are currently held at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. The championships were not held during World War I, World War II and in 202 ...

in 1962, 1964 and 1970. In total, Jacobs won five British Empire/Commonwealth Games medals - a bronze medal in men's épée and a gold medal in team épée at the

1962 Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth. The ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia, team gold at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

and again at the

1970 Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games (Scottish Gaelic: Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis Bhreatainn 1970) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, where he also won an individual bronze medal.Graham Groom
''The Complete Book Of The Commonwealth Games''
/ref> Jacobs won one world championship medal, a team épée silver at the 1965 World Fencing Championships in Paris. Jacobs competed in

individual An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own Maslow ...

and team épée at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

in Tokyo, topping his pool in the first round with a 6–1 win–loss record. Four years later he again represented Great Britain in team épée at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

in Mexico City. He went to a third Games in Montreal in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

as the Great Britain fencing captain. He was captain of the British épée team from 1971–76 and was the overall team manager from 1973–76. Jacobs wrote the foreword to the book entitled ''Fencing: Techniques of Foil, Epee and Sabre'' by Brian Pitman (1988). He served on the Executive Committee of the

Fédération Internationale d'Escrime The ''Fédération Internationale d'Escrime'' ( en, International Fencing Federation), commonly known by the acronym FIE, is the international governing body of Olympic fencing. Today, its head office is at the Maison du Sport International ...

(FIE) for 24 years, 12 as secretary-treasurer, and stepped down in 2013 and was elected to the Legal Commission. He was an A-graded FIE épée referee and worked on the Directoire Technique (DT) at multiple FIE world championships and Olympic Games. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the

2019 New Year Honours The 2019 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to British and International Fencing.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Peter 1938 births Living people English Jews British male fencers People from Pinner Sportspeople from the London Borough of Harrow Fencers from London Olympic fencers for Great Britain Fencers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Fencers at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Fencers at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in fencing Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Universiade medalists in fencing FISU World University Games gold medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1963 Summer Universiade Jewish British sportspeople Jewish épée fencers Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Members of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games