Marcus Mepstead OLY ( ; born 11 May 1990) is a British Olympic

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, 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 ...

in Rio De Janeiro. A team bronze medallist at the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2013 European Championships, and team gold medallist at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

. In 2016, he won the

title at the

British Fencing Championships The British Fencing Championships are held annually to determine the British champion. The Championships are currently held at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield or the Lee Valley Athletics Centre. These championships (known as the Nationa ...

. and 2019 Vice-World Champion.

Career

Mepstead started fencing after seeing it on his way home after school. He was a member of the team that earned a bronze medal at the 2010 European Championships in Leipzig, Great Britain's first medal at the major fencing event since 1965, becoming the youngest British athlete to medal at a European Fencing Championships. He took part in the

2011 Summer Universiade The 2011 Summer Universiade ( zh, c=2011年夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no), also known as the XXVI Summer Universiade ( zh, c=, s=第二十六届夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no) and Shenzhen 2011, was hosted in Shenzhen, Gua ...

. Great Britain earned another European bronze medal two years later in Zagreb. In 2014 he was drafted into the British World Class Programme ahead of the

. In the 2014–15 season he took part in the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from countries served by national Olympic committees within the European Olympic Committees (EOC), the regional association for such committ ...

held in Baku. Great Britain defeated France, then managed a surprise win against favourites Italy to earn the gold medal. In April 2016 he was named in the four man team for the

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 ...

coming on to fight against Russia, Egypt and China as Great Britain finished 6th in the Team Event. In July 2019 he earned the individual silver medal at the 2019 World Championships, beating world number 1 Alessio Foconi in the first round, Son Young Ki 15-12 in the semifinal, before being defeated 15-6 by

Enzo Lefort Enzo Lefort (born 29 September 1991) is a French right-handed foil fencer. Lefort is a four-time team European champion, 2014 team world champion, and two-time individual world champion. A three-time Olympian, Lefort is a 2016 team Olympic si ...

in the final.

Personal life

In 2014 Marcus Mepstead graduated with a 2.1 BSc Honours degree in Economics and Geography at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. Whilst studying he was part of the

University of London Union The University of London Union (ULU), known as Student Central after 2014, was the students' union of the federal University of London. Since the closure of its student governance, each student is instead primarily affiliated to a students' unio ...

team that earned promotion to first division. He was awarded full purples for his involvement as well as building a new sports ambassador role within London School of Economics. Currently he trains full-time, working with the British Athletes Commission as well as mentoring and coaching at clubs and schools.

References

External links

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Profile
at the European Fencing Confederation {{DEFAULTSORT:Mepstead, Marcus 1990 births Living people British male foil fencers Fencers at the 2015 European Games European Games medalists in fencing European Games gold medalists for Great Britain Olympic fencers for Great Britain Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fencers from London Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2023 European Games 21st-century British sportsmen