Isabella Isaksen (born November 22, 1993) is a

modern pentathlete The modern pentathlon is an Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, laser pistol shooting, and cross country running. The sport wa ...

from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

who competed at 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 de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

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. Isaksen is the younger sister of

Margaux Isaksen Margaux Isaksen (born October 7, 1991) is a modern pentathlete from the United States who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, ...

, who competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and competed in 2016.

Biography

Isaksen was born in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

. She has one sibling, older sister Margaux Isaksen, who made the United States Olympic Team in modern pentathlon in 2008, 2012, and 2016. Isaksen's father was the captain of a cruise ship. He died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

when his daughters were 2 years and 6 months old, respectively. Isaksen was a fencer first, before taking up modern pentathlon, of which fencing is one of the five components. She began fencing shortly before her older sister, Margaux. In 2012, she completed on the gold medal-winning U.S. women's relay team at the

World Junior Modern Pentathlon Championships The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

in Drzonków, Poland, alongside her sister. After her appearance at the 2016 Olympic Games, where she placed 24th with 1255 points, Isaksen and her husband,

Amro El Geziry Amro Elgeziry (born 19 November 1986) is an American modern pentathlete. He competed for Egypt at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics and placed 32nd, 33rd and 25th, respectively. His brothers, Emad and Omar, are also Olympic pentathletes. In Jun ...

, took the mixed relay silver medal at the 2018 UIPM World Cup II in Los Angeles. The next year, the pair took gold in the mixed relay at the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games (), officially the XVIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Lima 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminar ...

in Lima, Peru. In January 2017, Isaksen joined the U.S. Army where she served on a

multiple launch rocket system A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a vol ...

crew and stationed at

Fort Carson Fort Carson is a United States Army post located directly south of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, El Paso, Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo, Fremont County, Colorado, Fremont, and Huerfano County, Colorado, Huerfano counties, Color ...

, Colorado. In January 2021, she was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant. In 2016, Isaksen began seasonal work with the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

, and in 2023, she took a permanent position as a public affairs officer at

Ochoco National Forest The Ochoco National Forest is located in the Ochoco Mountains in Central Oregon in the United States, north and east of the city of Prineville, location of the national forest headquarters. It encompasses of rimrock, canyons, geologic oddit ...

. In February 2025, just shy of the end of her probationary period in the role, Isaksen was removed from her position as part of the

2025 United States federal mass layoffs More than 275,000 United States federal civil service layoffs have been announced by the second Trump administration. , the New York Times tracked more than 58,000 confirmed cuts, more than 76,000 employee buyouts, and more than 149,000 other ...

. Following this, she was a guest of Oregon senator

Jeff Merkley Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician who is the junior United States senator from Oregon. He was first elected to the Senate in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1999 to 2009 as the repres ...

at the Donald Trump's 2025 speech to a joint sesion of Congress.

Personal life

In May 2014, Isaken married fellow pentathlete

. The pair joined the army in 2017 and were selected for the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program.

References

External links

USA Pentathlon profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaksen, Isabella 1993 births Living people American female modern pentathletes Modern pentathletes at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic modern pentathletes for the United States Sportspeople from Fayetteville, Arkansas Modern pentathletes at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in modern pentathlon Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games 21st-century American sportswomen