Alexander Chen Massialas (;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''Chén Hǎixiáng''; ; born April 20, 1994) is an American right-handed

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 ...

fencer. He is a two-time

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. ...

champion, 11-time team Pan American champion, two-time individual Pan American champion, and 2019 team world champion who is currently the fencing coach for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

. A four-time Olympian, Massialas first competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games, where he was the youngest male athlete representing the United States. He later won the Olympic silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics Individual Men's Foil competition and is a two-time team Olympic bronze medalist, first at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for men's team foil and then at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics for men's team foil.

Early life and education

Massialas was born and raised in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, to a

Taiwanese American Taiwanese Americans (traditional Chinese, Chinese: 臺灣裔美國人; pinyin: ''Táiwān yì měiguó rén''; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ''Tâi-Bí-jîn'') are Americans of Taiwanese people, Taiwanese ancestry, including American-born descendants of migrant ...

mother and a father of Greek descent. His mother, Chwan-Hui Chen, immigrated from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

to attend graduate school in the United States, where she studied piano and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. Massialas' maternal grandfather ran a Taiwanese company, King Chong Hong (Chinese: 慶昌行), which imported Asian ingredients and utensils to the U.S. In 2021, Massialas recalled in an interview, "I have always been extremely proud of my Taiwanese heritage and I jump at any opportunity to return to Taiwan". Massialas' father, Greg Massialas, fenced for the United States in 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 ...

and

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

, and has coached the American national foil team. Massialas' sister,

Sabrina Sabrina may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sabrina (given name), a feminine given name, including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Hafren, known in English as Sabrina, a British princess in Welsh mythology ...

, is also an Olympic fencer. From

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

to eighth grade, Massialas was enrolled in the

Chinese American International School Chinese American International School (CAIS) is an independent preschool through Grade 8 co-educational Chinese- English dual language immersion school located in San Francisco, California. Preschool is full immersion, Kindergarten through Grade ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where he began fencing as a child. After graduating from the

Drew School Drew School is an independent, coeducational, college-preparatory high school located in San Francisco, California, United States. The school was founded in 1908 by John Sheehan Drew and today serves grades 9–12. History Founded initially in ...

, he attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(B.S.) degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

in 2017. In July 2023, Massialas worked at MHC Engineers, a mechanical engineering firm owned by his maternal uncle, Meng Hsiu-Chen.

Fencing career

After he showed spontaneous interest at an early age, his father made him wait until he was seven years old to begin training. An athletic child, Massialas played soccer and made the basketball and the swimming teams at

. He enrolled at

on a fencing scholarship in the fall of 2012. He closed his freshman season by winning the 2013 NCAA title in individual men's foil. He repeated this feat in 2015, after falling to David Willette in 2014's semifinal round. In July 2024, Massialas was named the head fencing coach for the

Medal record

Alexander Massialas CIP 2015 IND t163216

Olympic Games

World Championship

Grand Prix

World Cup

Pan American Championship

References

External links

*
Alexander Massialas
at USA Fencing * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Massialas, Alexander 1994 births Living people American male foil fencers Olympic silver medalists for the United States in fencing Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in fencing Fencers at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in fencing Stanford Cardinal fencers American sportspeople of Taiwanese descent American people of Greek descent Sportspeople of Greek descent Fencers from San Francisco Fencers at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Fencing Championships medalists Drew School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen Fencers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2015 Pan American Games