How historic Olympic medal catapulted Canada's Eleanor Harvey into fencing's elite

Myles Dichter · for CBC Sports

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

It was 1 of the indelible moments from the Paris Olympics.

The look connected Eleanor Harvey's look — a substance of shock, awe and numbness — aft the Canadian won her bronze-medal fencing bout, securing the country's first-ever podium quality successful the sport.

Harvey's absorption whitethorn person led you to judge her triumph was a one-off — that she had adjacent seemingly amazed herself and authored 1 of those classical Olympic underdog tales.

Not truthful fast.

Instead, Harvey's follow-up play has cemented her arsenic a morganatic contender connected the planetary fencing circuit. The 30-year-old has claimed 4 medals successful 5 competitions, including Canada's archetypal World Cup gold.

"It's decidedly going amended than I would person ever hoped for," Harvey said of her season. "I mean, of course, each tourney that I spell to, I ever privation to triumph it. I ever judge I tin triumph it. At least, you know, triumph a medal. Every clip I measurement onto the podium, it's a immense milestone successful my vocation and my life."

WATCH | Harvey reflects connected historical bronze-medal triumph astatine Olympics:

But Harvey's belief, if not newfound, was surely boosted by her triumph successful Paris.

"I deliberation my show astatine the Olympics was decidedly a immense assurance booster and it made maine precise unafraid successful my quality to grip high-pressure situations due to the fact that nothing, nary competition, is arsenic afloat of unit arsenic the Olympics," she said.

First and foremost, it reinforced the worth of resilience. Typically, fencing competitions bash not see third-place bouts — events manus retired 2 bronze medals instead.

Not astatine the Olympics.

"I deliberation that it made maine consciousness truly capable to travel backmost from hard situations better," said Harvey, who bushed Italy's Alice Volpi to scope the podium successful women's idiosyncratic foil.

"I didn't triumph due to the fact that I'm amended astatine fencing," she continued. "I won due to the fact that I was capable to someway region the unit from the concern and person fun. And I deliberation I've been capable to benignant of shrink that down and usage that connected a smaller standard wrong bouts."

Relentlessly affirmative mindset

Which brings america to Cairo, Egypt — the tract of her World Cup golden medal.

About 2 weeks earlier the World Cup, Harvey was diagnosed with walking pneumonia, a mild bacterial corruption that resembles a cold, per the Mayo Clinic.

It near Harvey incapable to train, contempt her champion efforts, and yet forced to her spell connected anti-biotics and simply remainder up.

She began feeling amended arsenic the opening bouts approached, but knew she wasn't astir arsenic prepared arsenic accustomed — thing she spun into a positive.

Harvey has been a combatant her full beingness — her ma sold their location to money her fencing future, and the 2 moved successful with her grandma.

Fencing is simply a notoriously costly sport, yet the Canadian persevered.

"She went done those challenges that a batch of affluent kids don't request to spell through. Therefore, she's mode stronger," said Peter Ho, a manager astatine the Toronto Fencing Club who spent clip with Harvey arsenic a young athlete.

For her Olympic success, the Hamilton, Ont., autochthonal was named the Golden Horseshoe 2024 jock of the year, beating retired chap Olympian and imaginable NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the honour.

Harvey said being an Olympic medallist besides gives her an other boost successful encouraging the adjacent generation.

"I spot conscionable specified a roar successful not lone the magnitude of kids, but the magnitude of kids that are taking it rather seriously. … I deliberation it's truly peculiar to maine to beryllium capable to correspond Canada astatine the highest level and hopefully amusement kids that we are a state that tin go precise palmy successful this sport," she said.

After Paris, Harvey moved to Vancouver, a program that was successful spot careless of results.

Being astir a caller radical of kids astatine her grooming centre, she said she feels added validity acknowledgment to her bronze medal successful summation to her presumption arsenic a three-time Olympian.

Meanwhile, her mom's aboriginal sacrifices are paying off.

"I bash consciousness a batch of gratitude that I'm capable to beryllium a fencer successful Canada, to marque a surviving being a fencer. Like that's not a mean thing. … And that is thing I don't instrumentality lightly," Harvey said.

Now, Harvey volition circular retired her play with 2 much World Cups, the Pan Am Championships successful June and the satellite championships successful July.

The archetypal halt connected that circuit is simply a World Cup successful Lima opening Friday.

And Harvey's adjacent ngo is to seizure a squad medal alongside her younger teammates, each teenagers.

It appears adjacent – the squad was 1 constituent distant from bronze astatine the Olympics and placed 4th successful Cairo.

When Harvey returned from that World Cup, the hardware that seemingly unlocked her tally of occurrence was recovered successful an antithetic spot — stuffed successful a sock connected her bath counter.

"Oh my God," Harvey responded erstwhile asked for the Olympic bronze medal's whereabouts.

"I had to bring it determination for an lawsuit and past I had to permission the adjacent time to spell to Cairo. So I didn't person clip to bash thing with it. No disrespect to the medal oregon whatever, but I'll enactment it back. I person an country wherever I support trophies and medals and stuff."

It's an country that's abruptly filling up rather quickly.