Nzingha Prescod (born August 14, 1992) is an American

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, World Champion in foil at the 2008 and 2009 Cadet World Cups,

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 ...

ist at the

2015 World Fencing Championships The 2015 World Fencing Championships were held at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia from 13 to 19 July 2015. Schedule The schedule of the competition. Medal summary Medal table Men's events Women's events References External link ...

, three-time medalist at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

, and two-time Olympian."Nzingha Prescod,"
Team USA. She has ranked as high as world # 5. Prescod was selected as an athlete director on the USA Fencing Board of Directors beginning in January 2021.

Biography

Prescod, a daughter of Marva Prescod and Homer Richardson, was born in New York City, and was named after Nzingha Mbande (a 17th century queen in what is now

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, who fought against colonization by the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

). Her mother is a Vincentian lawyer. Prescod graduated from

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School ( ) is a co-ed, State school, public, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in Manhattan, New York City. The school, commonly called "Stuy" ( ) by its students, faculty, a ...

in New York City in 2010. She graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 2015, majoring in Political Science, and fencing for the Columbia Lions fencing team. Fencing for Columbia, in 2010-11 she was named

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

Rookie of the Year, and First-Team All-Ivy League. She took the following year off to train for the Olympics. In 2012-13 she was again All-Ivy. In her Columbia career, she was 117-19 in foil bouts. She was World Champion in foil at the 2008 and 2009 Cadet World Cups. Prescod placed third in women’s foil at the 2011 Pan American Championships. In 2013, Prescod became the first US women’s foil fencer to win a Grand Prix title when she won the gold medal at the Marseilla Foil Grand Prix in France. She finished third in the Division I Women's Foil at the 2015 January NAC. Prescod competed in the individual women's foil event of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, at 19 years of age, where she was defeated 10-15 in the table of 32 by Hungary's

Aida Mohamed Aida Mohamed (born 12 March 1976) is a Hungarian foil fencer, silver medallist at the 1993 World Championships and team gold medallist at the 2007 European Championships. She is the only Hungarian athlete in history to have competed at seven ...

. In the team event Team USA lost to South Korea in the quarter-finals, and finished 6th after the placement matches. She was a

ist at the

. Prescod fenced in the 2016

Rio 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 ...

at 23 years of age, and came in 11th. In 2016 Prescod was one of eight Olympians selected for a six-month internship with EY (the former Ernst & Young) through its Women Athletes Business Network. As of 2020, she was working in

data analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sci ...

for EY. Prescod, suffering from

avascular necrosis Avascular necrosis (AVN), also called osteonecrosis or bone infarction, is death of bone tissue due to interruption of the blood supply. Early on, there may be no symptoms. Gradually joint pain may develop, which may limit the person's abilit ...

, trained and competed for a year in increasing pain. In January 2020, facing the necessity of

hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgery, surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant (medicine), implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi/semi(half) repl ...

surgery, Prescod announced her retirement from competition. Prescod was selected as an athlete director on the USA Fencing Board of Directors beginning on January 1, 2021, as the top vote-getter in a vote by athletes who represented the US at the Olympics or Paralympics, Pan American Games, or Senior World Championships. She said that in 2020 the organization's disciplinary decisions "reeked of lenience and favorability for the offender."

References

External links

* *
Profile
at US Fencing *Nzingha Prescod (July 10, 2020)
"An Open Letter To The USOPC & NGBs,"
Team USA. {{DEFAULTSORT:Prescod, Nzingha 1992 births Living people American female foil fencers Olympic fencers for the United States Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Columbia Lions fencers Columbia College (New York) alumni Fencers from Brooklyn Fencers at the 2011 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in fencing Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in fencing 21st-century American sportswomen

Biography

See also

References

External links