The United States has defeated Italy to bring home the bronze medal in the men’s team foil.
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Chamley-Watson and his United States teammates – Gerek Meinhardt, Alexander Massialas, and Race Imboden – captured the bronze thanks to a 45-31 win over Italy.
The foursome have broken an 84-year-old record, earning the US its first medal in the team foil event since the 1932 games where they also won bronze.
The U.S. went on to win 45-37. “All they did was try to pick my head up”. With a target of 25 points, Meinhardt ripped off eight straight touches to give the his team a 25-20 lead it would never relinquish. Miles Chamley-Watson put up four points in the third but the Americans still trailed by 4.
After dropping his first bout to individual gold medalist Daniele Garozzo 6-4, Meinhardt returned to the piste against Andrea Baldini in the fifth of the match’s nine rounds with the USA trailing 20-17.
And it was only fitting that Massialas, just hours after losing to Russian Federation, would score the 45th and final point.
The oldest member of the foil team scored 24 points in the bout-often when the US needed it most.
The U.S. women’s sabre team is up next, led by Mariel Zagunis. The foil team finished fourth four years ago at the London Games.
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They made the most of it, too, jumping into the stands and wrapping themselves in American flags on the piste. At his first appearance in Beijing in 2008, he became the youngest U.S. Olympic fencer of all time at the age of 17. “For us to come together and have each other’s backs, it just proves that it’s not a fluke anymore”.
