Aug. 17, 2004

Athens, Greece - Yale women's fencer Sada Jacobson (Dunwoody, GA) won a bronze medal in the women's sabre competition at the Olympics Tuesday. Jacobson beat Romania's Catalina Gheorghitoaia 15-7 in the bronze medal match to become the first American woman ever to medal in fencing. Jacobson's medal-winning effort began with a first-round bye, as she was the No. 1 seed in the 24-fencer field. She beat Cuba's Ana Faez Miclin 15-4 in the round of 16, then beat France's Leonore Perrus 15-11 in the quarterfinals. Perrus had knocked out Jacobson's sister Emily in the previous round. After falling to China's Xue Tan 15-12 in the semifinals, Jacobson regrouped to win the bronze medal match. Tan fell in the gold medal match to the USA's Mariel Zagunis. Jacobson, a two-time NCAA champion for the Bulldogs, left Yale in November of 2002 to concentrate on her fencing full time. She plans to re-enroll in the fall. Women's sabre was an Olympic event for the first time in 2004. The Ivy League has not had an Olympic fencing medalist since the Los Angeles Games of 1932 when Columbia's Hugh Alessandroni and Yale's Dernell Every and Frank Righeimer each earned bronze in team foil. report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity Department