Saskia Loretta van Erven García (born August 29, 1987 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, Netherlands) is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

- Colombian female fencer. At 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 ...

she competed in the Women's foil, and was defeated 9-14 in the second round by

Carolin Golubytskyi Carolin Elisabeth Golubytskyi (née Wutz, born 19 December 1985 in Bad Mergentheim, Germany) is a German foil fencer. Biography Carolin Golubytskyi attended Riemenschneider-Realschule Tauberbischofsheim and the Kaufmännische Schule Tauberbisc ...

. She was also defeated in the second round of the

2016 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 ...

, by

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 ...

, 15-12. Van Erven García studies journalism at a university in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, while she trains fencing at SchermCentrum Amsterdam. Although she was born and raised in the Netherlands, she changed her fencing nationality to her mother's country Colombia in 2011, and represented

Colombia at the 2012 Summer Olympics Colombia competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's eighteenth appearance at the Olympics, having not competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Comité Olímpico Colombiano sent ...

. Van Erven García's mother comes from Cali,

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. She took up fencing at the age of 6 because her parents were involved in the sport. Indeed her mother, Gloria Garcia Pacheco, also represented Colombia internationally, winning a gold medal in the team foil at the 1971 Pan-American Games. She represented Colombia at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

References

1987 births Living people Dutch people of Colombian descent Colombian female foil fencers Dutch female foil fencers Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic fencers for Colombia Sportspeople from Rotterdam University of Amsterdam alumni Fencers at the 2015 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists in fencing Pan American Games silver medalists for Colombia Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Colombia Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Colombian sportswomen 21st-century Dutch sportswomen {{Colombia-fencing-bio-stub