Mika'il Sankofa (born Michael Lofton, 10 December 1963 in Montgomery,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

) is a sabre fencer and coach. He competed in the individual and team sabre events at the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

Background

During his fencing career, Sankofa trained under Tanya Adamovich,

Csaba Elthes ''Maestro'' Csaba Elthes (March 10, 1912 – November 8, 1995) was a Hungarian fencing master who emigrated to the U.S. in 1956. Elthes trained many Olympic competitors in the 1960s through 1980s, including the only U.S. Olympic fencing medalist o ...

, Peter Frohlich, Szabo Adrosh,

Christian Bauer Christian Bauer (born 11 January 1977) is a French chess grandmaster and author. He is a three-time French Chess Champion (1996, 2012, 2015). In 2005 he won the 2nd Calvia Chess Festival. In 2009, came first at Vicente Bonil ahead of 21 GMs an ...

and Lazlo Szepesi. A graduate of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

with a BA in Economics, Sankofa is a former publicist who has worked for firms such as

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

Grey Advertising Grey Group is a global advertising and marketing agency with headquarters in New York City, and 432 offices in 96 countries, operating in 154 cities. It is organized into four geographical units: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asi ...

, Kirshenbaum, Bond & Partners and Shandwick International. From 1990 - 2009, Sankofa served as co-founder, director of athletics and fencing coach for the

Peter Westbrook Foundation Peter Jonathan Westbrook (April 16, 1952 – November 29, 2024) was an American saber fencer. He was a 13-time national and 3-time Pan American Games saber champion, five-time Olympian, and an Olympic bronze medalist. He founded the Peter West ...

. He was responsible for running a year-round class for over 200 participants, including a number of elite-level athletes. Sankofa's students have included three

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

champions, five national champions, six junior world team members, the 2005 Junior Olympic men's cadet and junior sabre champions, the 2005 Junior Olympic women's sabre champion and the 2005 national cadet men's sabre champion. Sankofa also serves as head fencing coach at the United Nations International School as well as the head sabre coach at the Ross School's summer program in

East Hampton, New York East Hampton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York United States. It is located at the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town i ...

. He runs the Sankofa Sabre Camp in East Hampton, conducts clinics and does color commentary for fencing competitions around the country. In 2006, Sankofa received his Maestro’s degree with honors from

Semmelweis University Semmelweis University (Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Semmelweis Egyetem'', ) is a research-led medical school in Budapest, Hungary, founded in 1769. With six faculties and a doctoral school it covers all aspects of medical and health sciences. ...

in Budapest, Hungary. Sankofa served as the head coach for the

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a Private university, private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely de ...

men's fencing team 2005-09. Sankofa served as an analyst for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

' coverage of

fencing at the 2008 Summer Olympics Fencing competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9 to August 17 at the Olympic Green Convention Center. Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events Events Ten sets of medals were awarded in the ...

. He currently owns and coaches a fencing academy in Nyack, New York.

Records

Sankofa had an outstanding career as a competitive sabre fencer. He was a member of the United States Olympic Team in

and

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, and reached the pinnacle of his sport when he captured US national sabre championships in both 1991 and 1992. He took part in the

Pan-American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

as member of Sabre Team Silver in 1987 and 1991. In addition, Sankofa was a ten-time National Team Sabre Champion, in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, and 1995. Sankofa was also a four-time NCAA champion for the Violets, capturing the sabre title in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987. He is the only male fencer to ever win four NCAA individual championships.

Hall of Fame

In 1994, he was inducted into the NYU Sports Hall of Fame,
NOTE: Sankofa is listed under the name Michael Lofton. and in the summer of 2005, he was inducted into the United States Fencing Association Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sankofa 1963 births Living people American male sabre fencers Sportspeople from Montgomery, Alabama Fencers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers for the United States Fencers at the 1987 Pan American Games Fencers at the 1991 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in fencing Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in fencing 20th-century American sportsmen

Background

Records

Hall of Fame

See also

References

External links