Rebecca "Becca" Ward (born February 7, 1990) is an American

sabre A sabre (French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as the ...

fencer. She won the gold medal at the sabre

2006 World Fencing Championships The 2006 World Fencing Championships were held at the Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Med ...

after beating

Mariel Zagunis Mariel Leigh Zagunis (born March 3, 1985) is an American sabre fencer. She is a two-time Olympic champion in the individual sabre (2004 and 2008) and the first American to win a gold medal in Olympic fencing. She was Team USA flag bearer in th ...

15–11 in the final, and took bronze in both individual and team sabre events at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

. She also won the women's NCAA national individual sabre championship three times (2009, 2011, 2012), the first in history to do so in sabre.COLLEGE FENCING: Rebecca Ward captures third NCAA title
In 2015, she was inducted into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame.

Personal

Ward was born in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mo ...

, to Bill and Beth Ward. She has a brother by the name of Wiliam Ward. Ward was home schooled. She was the Senior Director at the Clean Energy Leadership Institute until April 2021, and is currently the head of the Saber Program Director for the Arlington Fencers' Club in Arlington, Virginia. She has lived in Cedar Mill, a suburb of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

History

A member of the Oregon Fencing Alliance (OFA), she trained with Ed Korfanty Charles Randall and Jacek Huchwajda and has won a record number of world titles for a female sabre fencer in 2006; Cadet (U17), Junior (U20), Junior Team and Senior. As of June 2007, Ward was ranked first in the world in both Official and World Cup rankings for senior women sabre fencers. She was also a member of the US Senior World Team that won the gold medal at the 2005 World Fencing Championships in Leipzig, Germany. As of July 2007, Ward was the number-one-ranked senior women's sabre fencer in the United States and on the FIE Rankings. Ward won the Grand Prix in Las Vegas and gave up only 30 points of a possible 90 (an average of only five points in each 15-point bout).

College career

Ward fenced for Duke University under Maître Alex Beguinet while working towards majors in

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

and Psychology, as well as a Certificate in Energy and the Environment. On Sunday March 22, 2009, she won the women's NCAA national individual sabre title. She failed to defend her title in 2010, losing the final match to Caroline Vloka of Harvard. On March 27, 2011, Ward defeated Vloka in the women's sabre NCAA semifinal, and went on to reclaim her title by defeating Princeton's Eliza Stone 15–12 in the gold-medal match. In 2012, she captured her third NCAA championship by defeating Penn State's

Monica Aksamit Monica Aksamit (born February 18, 1990) is an American Olympic saber fencer. She represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics, earning a bronze medal in the Women's Saber Team competition. She won a gold medal with Team USA at ...

, becoming the first three-time individual sabre winner in NCAA history. Ward graduated Duke with a 272–7 (.975) record, making her the school's all-time wins leader.

2008 Beijing Olympics

Ward was one of the top seeds for the individual sabre competition. She won her first bout, against Spain's

Araceli Navarro Araceli Navarro Laso (born August 9, 1989) is a Spanish sabre fencer. She won one of the bronze medals in the women's sabre event at the 2022 World Fencing Championships held in Cairo, Egypt. Navarro represented Spain at the 2008 Summer Olympics ...

, when her opponent was forced to withdraw due to a shoulder injury (Ward was winning 12–7 at the time). She then defeated

Orsolya Nagy Orsolya Nagy (, born 17 November 1977) is a Hungarian fencer who competed in the women's individual sabre events at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known a ...

of Hungary in the round of 16, 15–5. In the quarterfinals, she beat Tunisia's

Azza Besbes Azza Besbes ( ar, عزة بسباس; born 28 November 1990) is a Tunisian sabre fencer, five-time African champion. She took part in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing 7th, 9th and 5th respectively. Personal life Besbes was bor ...

, 15–14, in a match decided by one final touch. In the semifinals, Ward faced defending Olympic champion

, with whom she trained regularly at the Oregon Fencing Alliance. She lost the bout 15–11 to Zagunis, who would go on to win the gold medal. Shortly after, Ward fenced in the bronze medal bout, where she defeated Russia's Sofia Velikaya 15–14. This assured that American fencers would sweep all three medals prior to the actual final bout, in which

Sada Jacobson Sada Molly Jacobson (born February 14, 1983) is an American Olympic fencer. She is the 2008 Olympic Individual Sabre silver medalist in women's sabre (one of three Olympic medals), the 2004 Olympic Individual Sabre bronze medalist in women's ...

faced Mariel Zagunis for the gold. In the women's sabre team event, the US was heavily favored to win the team event. Ward teamed up with Jacobson and Zagunis to defeat the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

n team in the quarterfinals, 45–8. In the semifinals, they fenced Ukraine. The Ukrainians, seeded fifth in the tournament, defeated the favored US team 45–39, denying them a gold medal, and placing them in the bronze medal bout against France. The USA team rebounded from their semifinal loss by defeating the French team 45–38, with Ward making the final touch of the bout, and Ward earned her second bronze medal of the Olympics.

References

External links