Ohio State has two Olympic medalists in two days.
Former Ohio State fencer Eleanor Harvey became the second Buckeye to win a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics as she defeated Italy’s Alice Volpi, 15-12, in the bronze medal match in the women’s foil.
Harvey finished third in the competition behind only the American duo of Lauren Scruggs and Lee Kiefer, who advanced to the gold medal match, where Kiefer defeated Scruggs to win gold.
The former Buckeye, who competed for Ohio State from 2013-17, made history for Team Canada by becoming the first-ever Canadian fencer to win an Olympic medal.
Eleanor Harvey has become #TeamCanadas first ever Olympic medallist in fencing!!
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) July 28, 2024
The 29-year-old won the bronze medal in the womens individual foil event. https://t.co/vbDztLDAjp
Harvey won her first three matches in the competition to advance to the semifinals before suffering a 15-9 loss to Scruggs. She bounced back in the third-place match by defeating Volpi, who entered the competition as the No. 3 seed.
Harvey becomes the second former Ohio State athlete to earn a medal in just two days of competition in Paris, joining former OSU swimmer Hunter Armstrong, who swam the fastest leg on Ohio State’s gold medal-winning 4x100-meter freestyle relay team on Saturday.
She was also one of two former Buckeye fencers to make history for Team Canada this weekend. Fares Arfa, who also competed at Ohio State from 2013-17, earned the best individual finish ever for a Canadian men’s fencer when he made the quarterfinals in men’s sabre on Saturday, upsetting three-time defending Olympic gold medalist Áron Szilágyi of Hungary in the process.
Fares Arfa defeated three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in the table of 32 with a 15-8 win.
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) July 27, 2024
His run places him eighth in mens sabre at Paris 2024, Canadas best ever mens individual fencing result at an Olympic Games. https://t.co/XwlnNWuieo
Harvey’s medal-winning performance highlighted the second day of competition for Buckeyes at the Olympics. Armstrong competed in the semifinals of the 100-meter backstroke on Sunday, but fell short in his bid for a second medal as he missed the final with an 11th-place time of 53.11 seconds.
