'I can trust myself': Olympic fencing medal brings confidence for Hamilton's Eleanor Harvey

Eleanor Harvey made past erstwhile she stepped onto the podium successful Paris.

Winning bronze successful idiosyncratic women's foil — Canada's archetypal Olympic fencing medal — was lone the beginning.

Since the 2024 Games, Harvey has medalled successful 4 of the six tournaments she's competed in, and captured Canada's archetypal World Cup golden successful the process.

"I deliberation going into the play aft (the Olympics) it gave maine a batch of assurance successful my preparation, successful the cognition I privation to person successful my grooming and successful competition," she said successful an interview. 

"And it gave maine assurance that my squad and I are bully capable to bushed the champion successful the world. And we are."

Harvey volition look to ascent the World Cup podium connected location ungraded for the archetypal clip this week erstwhile Vancouver hosts the adjacent halt connected the tour. The contention runs Thursday done Sunday.

The 30-year-old three-time Olympian remains anxious to execute connected her sport's biggest stages.

"Even though I won a medal astatine the Olympics and I won this (World Cup) gold, I inactive person this feeling of `You person truthful overmuch much to prove!'" Harvey said. "And I deliberation until that feeling goes away, I decidedly person an involvement successful continuing to compete."

Harvey's ma sold her home so Harvey could spend to compete 

Part of what makes Harvey peculiar is that she doesn't person an interior obstruction telling her to stop, said Igor Gantsevich, precocious show manager astatine the Canadian Fencing Federation.

"She volition spell done occurrence to execute her dream. And she has," helium said. "That benignant of happening with an athlete, you either person it oregon you don't. You can't truly thatch that."

Harvey grew up successful Hamilton and fell successful emotion with fencing arsenic soon arsenic she discovered it was a sport.

Getting to the highest level, though, required sacrifices for some the young jock and her family. Her mom, Lise Graydon, sold her location truthful Harvey could vie astir the globe.

She fenced astatine Ohio State, competed astatine the Rio Olympics and the Tokyo Games, and won metallic successful some the idiosyncratic and squad foil events astatine the 2023 Pan Am Games successful Chile.

Harvey was thrust into the planetary limelight successful Paris erstwhile she topped Italy's Alice Volpi successful the bronze-medal bout.

An enduring representation of the Games shows Harvey's shocked look the infinitesimal she realized she had won. Her red-and-white Maple Leaf disguise perched atop her curly reddish hair, the fencer's look is breached into a broad, unbelieving grin.

Paris marked a displacement for Harvey successful however she approaches the intelligence broadside of her sport.

"I learned that I tin spot myself, that I tin grip situations wherever radical are watching me, wherever there's a batch of unit and accent associated with the moment," she said. "I tin beryllium beardown successful that situation, and I can't hyper absorption connected my goal."

The results continued to rotation aft the Olympics

Harvey took a little interruption to sojourn London, England, with her mom, past travelled to Calgary to battalion each her belongings successful mentation for a determination to Vancouver. Then it was backmost to grooming and competitions.

Harvey wants to beryllium the champion successful the world, Canadian fencing authoritative says

She took bronze astatine a World Cup successful Tunisia successful November, past followed it up with metallic astatine a halt successful South Korea the adjacent month. In February, she won Grand Prix metallic successful Italy earlier taking World Cup golden successful Egypt successful March.

"She's inactive hungry. Being the first-ever Olympic medallist for her is great, but that's not bully enough. She wants to beryllium the champion successful the world," Gantsevich said. "And I tin spot her continuing for galore years to come. She has that hunger."

After the World Cup triumph past month, Harvey took a infinitesimal to bespeak connected a vocation that has spanned fractional of her life.

"I realized erstwhile I won the golden medal successful Cairo that I person been competing astatine World Cups, elder World Cups, for 15 years. And it took each that clip to yet triumph 1 similar that," she said. "That is simply a agelong time, and it's really, truly hard to bash that."

Now, Harvey is inspiring a caller procreation of athletes, some arsenic a manager successful Vancouver and arsenic the look of Canadian fencing.

People routinely travel up and archer her their daughters person taken up the athletics aft watching her compete. It's an enactment that reminds her of however she fell successful emotion with fencing years agone aft listening to a vigor interrogation with four-time Canadian Olympian Sherraine Schalm.

"I retrieve however I saw her and however I inactive spot her. And to cognize that younger kids are viewing maine that way, it's really thing that I truly don't instrumentality it lightly," Harvey said. "I'm precise alert of that, and I truly privation to exemplary my champion traits, knowing that benignant of idiosyncratic is watching."

She isn't the lone Canadian fencer drafting eyeballs.

Fencing is becoming much fashionable successful Canada, authoritative says

Harvey was portion of the women's foil squad that narrowly missed the podium successful Paris, finishing 4th aft a adjacent bout with Japan.

The occurrence of that squad is simply a immense information for the Olympic medallist.

"We've inactive ne'er won a squad medal successful a World Cup, ever successful past for women's foil. And I truly privation to beryllium portion of the archetypal squad to bash that. And I truly deliberation that we volition get there," she said.

On the men's side, Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., upset three-time defending champion Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary successful the men's sabre contention successful Paris earlier losing to eventual golden medallist Oh Sang-uk of South Korea successful the quarterfinals.

"Athletes from different countries present spot a Canadian successful their way and they're nervous, alternatively than `Oh, that's a escaped win,'" Gantsevich said. "And that has large impacts connected performance. It gives each of our athletes, each of our team's swagger, confidence, content that we arsenic a Canadian, we tin bash it."

The athletics has exploded successful maturation implicit the past 5 years, helium added, going from 3,000 competitory registrants successful 2020 to 6,000 this year. New clubs are sprouting crossed the state and coaches are coming from astir the satellite to thatch and train.

"It didn't hap overnight, but it's decidedly growing," helium said. "And it's truly special, what's going connected successful our state close now."