Fencing.Net

Obama Fences with Olympian on South Lawn

Tim Morehouse with President ObamaPresident Barack Obama attacked 2008 Olympian Tim Morehouse with a lightsaber on the South Lawn today during an event to drum up support of the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics.

2008 Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse and 2009 US Women’s Sabre team member Daria Schneider conducted a demonstration bout on the South Lawn in which President Obama served as the referee.

(Photo from Tim Morehouse)


President Obama used a light saber during a demonstration of fencing with Tim Morehouse who won a silver medal in Men’s Saber Fencing at the Beijing Olympics, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009, during an event supporting Chicago’s 2016 host city Olympic bid, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.

First Lady Michelle Obama jabbed at her husband’s fencing prowess, according to this article from Sports Illustrated: "You should have seen the president in there fencing,” she said to laughter, as Obama stuck out his arm in a mock fencing move. "It was pathetic. But he passed the baton really well.”

According to Morehouse’s Twitter feed, the President acted as referee during the fencing demonstration and mentioned to Morehouse that he had always wanted to fence.

Update: Tim posted a great write up of the event on his blog here:President Obama and First Lady Learning to Fence in Support of Chicago 2016

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