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West Vancouver Schools Fencing Academy student is among the youngest members of the Canadian contingent at these Olympics
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Published Jul 26, 2024 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 4 minute read
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Fencer Nick Zhang with coach Igor Gantsevich in North Vancouver. Zhang, who just graduated from a West Vancouver high school, is the youngest member of the Canadian épée squad heading to the Paris Olympics. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
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Consider fencer Nicholas Zhang’s spot in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics as a high school graduation gift to himself.
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The 18-year-old — who finished Grade 12 at Sentinel Secondary as part of the West Vancouver Schools Fencing Academy and is set to attend Ivy League university Harvard in the fall — is one of the youngest competitors for the Team Canada entry. Toronto skateboarder Fay De Fazio Ebert, 14, is the junior member of the group of 338 athletes.
Zhang grabbed a spot in the men’s épée competition at Paris 2024 with an overtime victory in the Pan American qualifiers in San Jose, Costa Rica in April. He’s the youngest Canadian male Olympian in the discipline.
Igor Gantsevich insists you could see it coming. Gantsevich is connected to Zhang: he’s the head coach of the academy, the high performance director for the Canadian Fencing Federation and team leader for the Canadian fencing squad in Paris.
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The men’s épée competition is on Sunday.
Fencer Nick Zhang is the youngest member of the Canadian épée squad heading to the Paris Olympics. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
“He’s beating guys that I was fencing against,” said Gantsevich, 36, a former elite competitor whose career was cut short due to injuries.
“He’ll beat someone and we’ll shake hands afterward and the guy will be like, ‘Great, Igor. You got me again, but now with this guy.’
“In épée, it’s normal for a 40-year-old to win a medal at the Olympics. The last year and half he’s been beating guys with Olympic medals and world medals. This wasn’t ‘Oh, he had a lucky day.’”
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It was Gantsevich’s Dynamo Fencing in Richmond that a seven-year-old Zhang walked in for his first class at the urging of a friend, and was hooked right away.
Dynamo added a North Vancouver location, and Gantsevich teamed with the West Vancouver school and took on the academy program as well. The school district has 10 different academies. There’s one for mechatronics robotics. The hockey one featured Connor Bedard.
Zhang signed on with the fencing when he moved into high school. The academy is open to students in Grades 8-12 who are registered at Sentinel, Rockridge or West Vancouver Secondary.
Soccer was his sport of choice before he stepped into Dynamo that first time. Zhang admits he had “no idea,” what fencing was.
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“My parents were as clueless as me about it at the time. What are we sending our kid to?” Zhang said. “Looking at fencing, they were hesitant at first, but they’ve always been supportive of me trying new things. We kept going and we started competitions and it was looking pretty good.”
Zhang did fitness training before Sentinel classes at least three days a week. He had fencing training interspersed in his school days, and he’d return at night for more practising.
“It takes a lot of self determination and will to do that, to be consistent,” said Zhang. “It takes a lot of patience.
“In the beginning, it’s about technique. In the younger ages, you saw a lot of technically talented kids do very well. When you get older, a lot of people have skills that are very similar. That’s when it comes down to who is stronger mentally and who’s ready to fight for it.
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“At the highest level, everyone is so skilled. It’s about who’s on that day and who is outsmarting whom.”
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Word got around Sentinel when he qualified in April for Paris. The common question was: “How did you get so good at a young age?”
He praises his teachers, saying that they were especially helpful because he missed so much school to travel for competitions. He guessed that he was probably away for a month of time in his Grade 12 year.
“They were really understanding, giving me a chance to catch up on things,” he said.
Fencer Nick Zhang in action with coach Igor Gantsevich. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
Zhang was a double medallist for Canada at the Pan American fencing championships in Lima, Peru, in June 2023, winning silver in individual épée and bronze in team épée. In October 2023, he was part of the Canadian contingent at the multi-sport Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, and came home with a silver in team épée.
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He’s one of eight fencers from Harvard in Paris. Another is his Canadian teammate Jessica Guo, 19, from Toronto, who made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. Other Ivy League representatives include alternate Bogdan Hamilton, 20, of St. Louis, who goes to Columbia, while alternate Sabrina Fang, 19, of Coquitlam attends Princeton.
“This sport is unique in that way. We don’t start out thinking: ‘One day I’m going to make a $1 million a season playing for the Vancouver Canucks,’” said Gantsevich. “It’s going to give me an opportunity for a top-level education and a chance to travel. I think Nick has seen the world already.”
Épée is one of three disciplines in fencing, along with foil and sabre. Each weapon is a different size and weight. As well, there are different target areas on the opponent. With épée, it’s the entire body, from head to toe, including clothing and equipment.
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SEwen@postmedia.com
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/olympics-pmn/west-vancouver-student-fencing-olympics