USA’s Mariel Zagunis ousted in quarterfinals of saber event at Tokyo Games

CHIBA, Japan — Mariel Zagunis, the primary American girl to win an Olympic gold medal in fencing, was eradicated within the quarterfinals of the saber occasion on Monday on the Tokyo Games.

The 2004 and 2008 champion is competing at her fifth Olympics. She’s already waiting for one other medal shot within the workforce occasion — and possibly even a sixth Olympic journey for the 2024 Paris Video games.

“It was over too quickly as a result of I really feel like I’ve extra within the tank and I’ve simply put in a lot work,” she mentioned.

Zagunis mentioned it was becoming that her quarterfinal bout was towards considered one of her oldest rivals. Russian Olympic Committee workforce fencer Sofya Velikaya, the 2016 Olympic runner-up, ended Zagunis’ bid for a 3rd particular person saber title 15-8 after scoring seven unanswered factors after it was tied 8-8. They’ve competed many instances earlier than, together with within the 2011 world championship closing, however hadn’t met in competitors in a number of years. The bout was typical saber fencing, a mixture of lightning reactions and good technique.

“Clearly, I used to be nervous,” Velikaya mentioned of dealing with Zagunis. “She’s an skilled fighter, she’s psychologically sturdy, she’s unbelievable at coping with stress.”

Zagunis mentioned she had an “unstated understanding of why we’re right here” with Velikaya since each are moms competing among the many world’s finest.

“I am simply actually proud to be right here and present that it may be finished,” Zagunis mentioned as Velikaya went on to win a 3rd consecutive silver medal within the particular person saber.

Over the previous 5 years, a lot has modified in Zagunis’ life. For one factor, she’s now not the one American girl with an Olympic fencing gold. Lee Kiefer’s win in foil on Sunday modified that.

Zagunis suffered a extreme foot harm in late 2016, turned a mom in October 2017 after which needed to take care of the coronavirus pandemic. Zagunis made positive of qualifying for Tokyo in March 2020, simply earlier than the virus shut down sports activities all over the world. She discovered it troublesome to take care of a yr of uncertainty about whether or not the Video games would go forward.

An additional yr of coaching “makes your mind wish to explode,” she mentioned.

The pandemic additionally means there are actually solely three years till the Paris Olympics.

“I am not ruling out Paris, particularly realizing what I have been by way of the previous 5 years,” she mentioned. “To really feel the way in which I did on the market immediately actually provides me good confidence going ahead.”