Natalia Sheppard (née Więckowska; born 27 May 1984) is a Polish-born British

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

fencer, who represented Great Britain at the individual and

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

events of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Career

Sheppard was born in Gdańsk, Poland. She took up fencing when she was ten— her sister Irena is also a fencer, specializing in

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

, and took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Natalia herself won the Polish national foil championships several times and earned a team gold medal at the 2000 Junior World Fencing Championships in South Bend. When she was seventeen she came to the United Kingdom to study at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

and gave up international competition. She graduated in Mathematics and Computer Science in 2006, then took up law studies. She married a Briton, Gary, in 2007. At his suggestion she came back to the piste and was quickly selected into the British team. Her first major competition bearing the

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

was 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 Leipzig. She posted a last-16 finish at the 2012 St Petersburg World Cup and the 2014 Cancun World Cup. Although Great Britain could qualify athletes to the 2012 Summer Olympics through host option, Sheppard was selected to compete in the zone qualifying tournament in Bratislava. She defeated Romania's Cristina Ghiță in the semi-finals to earn one of the two Olympic tickets. In the individual event she defeated teammate

Sophie Troiano Sophie Troiano (born 18 March 1987) is a British fencer. She has represented Great Britain in both the women's individual and team foil events and in June 2012 she was chosen to represent Great Britain in the 2012 London Olympics. Troiano studi ...

in the first round, but lost to World No.6

Corinne Maîtrejean Corinne Maîtrejean (born 8 November 1979 in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, Rhône) is a French foil fencer who won a bronze medal in the foil team event of the 2005 World Fencing Championships in Leipzig with her teammates Adeline Wuillème, ...

of France in the second round. In the team event Sheppard, Troiano and

Anna Bentley Anna Bentley (born 28 January 1981) is a British foil fencer. She represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Career Bentley was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, but grew up in Bergh Apton, Norfolk. She took up fencing at the age of elev ...

saw of Egypt in the first round, then met favourites Italy, featuring the bronze, silver and gold medallists of the individual event. Great Britain were crushed 14–42 in the quarter-finals. Sheppard finished the 2011–12 season World No.35, a career best . After the London Games Sheppard joined the British Fencing World Class Programme to prepare for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

References

External links

Profile
at Beazley British Fencing
Profile
at the European Fencing Confederation {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Natalia British female foil fencers 1984 births Living people Olympic fencers for Great Britain Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Gdańsk Sportspeople from Bath, Somerset English people of Polish descent European Games competitors for Great Britain Fencers at the 2015 European Games