María Belén Pérez Maurice (born 12 July 1985) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

sabre A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...

fencer who was Pan American champion in 2014. She was the only representative of the sport from Argentina at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

, and the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Career

Pérez Maurice started fencing at the age of thirteen at the instigation of her mother, an amateur fencer. She did not like the sport at first but took an interest after her first victory. She trained at the Círculo Militar in Buenos Aires–her father is a colonel in the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

– under Lucas Saucedo, who remains her coach as of 2014. She first fenced

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 ma ...

, a weapon in which she reached the quarter-finals at the 2006 Buenos Aires World Cup, then switched to

for the 2006–07 season. She began a career as a

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to display commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an artist's model. Modelling ("modeling" in American English) entails using one's body to represent someone ...

parallel to her sport career but had to abandon it for lack of time. In 2011, she won two satellite tournaments and earned a bronze medal at the Pan American Championships in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

. These results allowed her to qualify for the

as one of the top two fencers from the American zone. She is the first Argentine to gain Olympic access through FIE rankings. She lost 15–12 in the first round to Italy's

Gioia Marzocca Gioia Marzocca (born 22 June 1979) is an Italian fencer. She competed in the women's individual sabre events at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known a ...

and finished 21st. In the 2013–14 season she won the gold medal at the Pan American Championships in San José after defeating Olympic champion

Mariel Zagunis Mariel Leigh Zagunis (born March 3, 1985) is an American sabre fencer. She is a two-time Olympic champion in the individual sabre (2004 and 2008) and the first American woman to win a gold medal in fencing at the Olympics (which happened in 200 ...

in the final. She finished the season No.21 in world rankings, a career-best. Pérez Maurice studied food engineering at the

Universidad Argentina de la Empresa The Argentine University of Enterprise (, mostly known for its acronym UADE) is a private university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was founded by the Argentine Chamber of Corporations. Since 2003, the university's primary faculties have included ...

. María Belén won the bronze medal at the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

in Toronto, Canada. She competed at the

. She lost to

Manon Brunet Manon Apithy-Brunet (born 7 February 1996) is a French right-handed sabre fencer, 2018 team world champion, two-time Olympian, 2021 team Olympic silver medalist, and 2021 individual Olympic bronze medalist. She won the individual event in 202 ...

in the bronze medal match. She accepted a marriage proposal from her coach and partner Lucas Saucedo.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Maurice, Maria Belen 1985 births Living people Argentine female foil fencers Argentine female sabre fencers Argentine people of French descent Olympic fencers for Argentina Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina Pan American Games bronze medalists in fencing Fencers at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Fencers from Buenos Aires 21st-century Argentine sportswomen Fencers at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games