Maria Valeryevna Mazina (born 18 April 1964) is a Russian women's

épée The (, ; ), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains a ...

fencer. She is an Olympic champion, and a 5-time world women's épée champion.

Early and personal life

Mazina was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia, and is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. She lives in Moscow.

Fencing career

Mazina began fencing at the age of 12. Mazina is a 5-time world women's épée champion.

Olympics

She won a team

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the 1996 Olympics. Mazina and her teammates defeated

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in the third-place match (45–44) to capture the bronze medal. Mazina also won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

in team épée in 2000. Russia defeated Switzerland, 45–35, in the final. In the individual épée competition, Mazina was eliminated in the third round by Margherita Zalaffi of Italy (13–15).

Maccabiah Games

Mazina won a gold medal in the

2001 Maccabiah Games The 16th Maccabiah Games (), the Opening Ceremony was held in Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium, while the re-building process of the Maccabiah bridge collapse, collapsed bridge and investigations into the collapse continued. The 16th Maccabiah attracted ...

Coaching

She is an instructor at Maccabi Moscow, of which she has been a member since 1995 when it was first organized. She visited

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

for a Maccabi program. In 2015, she was the Russian Federation's épée team coach.

References

External links

Jews in Sports bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazina, Maria 1964 births Living people Russian female épée fencers Olympic fencers for Russia Fencers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Jewish épée fencers Jewish Russian sportspeople Olympic gold medalists for Russia Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Competitors at the 2001 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in fencing Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Russia Fencers from Moscow Olympic medalists in fencing Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Russian fencing coaches 20th-century Russian sportswomen