{mosimage}Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or have avoided all Olympics press, you should know who Sada Jacobson is. As US News & World Report, Time, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today have reported – she is the first US woman to be ranked #1 in fencing and she is also the first US fencer to hold the #1 ranking for an entire season.
If you’ve read those articles, you should also know that Sada’s younger sister, Emily, is also competing at the Olympics. Emily is ranked 10th in the world and comes into the Games with the 9th seed.
What you may not know is that the other US Women’s Sabre Olympian almost didn’t get to the Games, and she is poised for a medal run.
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Mariel Zagunis, Emily Jacobson, and Sada Jacobson could all earn medals.
Photo courtesy Serge Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com
Next week 24 fencers meet to compete for the 1st ever Gold Medal in Women’s Sabre. Among those fencers are 3 US fencers – all ranked in the top 10.
| Initial Seed | Name | First name | Country | World Rank |
| 1 | JACOBSON | Sada | USA | 1 |
| 2 | NETCHAEVA | Elena | RUS | 2 |
| 3 | TOUYA | Anne-Lise | FRA | 3 |
| 4 | ZAGUNIS | Mariel | USA | 4 |
| 5 | TAN | Xue | CHN | 5 |
| 6 | MARZOCCA | Gioia | ITA | 6 |
| 7 | SOCHA | Aleksandra | POL | 7 |
| 8 | PERRUS | Leonore | FRA | 9 |
| 9 | JACOBSON | Emily | USA | 10 |
| 10 | GHEORGHITOAIA | Catalina | ROM | 11 |
| 11 | ARGIOLAS | Cecile | FRA | 13 |
| 12 | JEMAYEVA | Elena | AZE | 14 |
| 13 | KOENIG | Susanne | GER | 16 |
| 14 | NAGY | Orsolya | HUN | 17 |
| 15 | ZHANG | Ying | CHN | 18 |
| 16 | LEE | Shin Mi | KOR | 20 |
| 17 | FAEX MIELIN | Ana | CUB | 26 |
| 18 | BENITEZ | Alejandra | VEN | 28 |
| 19 | HISAGAE | Madoka | JPN | 31 |
| 20 | BOND-WILLIAMS | Louise | GBR | 35 |
| 21 | NEDESHKOVSKAIA | Darya | UKR | 71 |
| 22 | PATTARO | Elora | BRA | 73 |
| 23 | CHOW | Tsz Ki | HKG | 82 |
| 24 | TOURE | Nafi | SEN | NR |
The fencers in the top 5 are the ones that have the best chance at the gold medal. Sada Jacobson (USA), Elena Netchaeva (RUS), and Anne-Lise Touya (FRA) have each won 2 World Cup events this year.
{mosimage}Mariel Zagunis (USA) ran the table in Germany, winning a World Cup event in June. After returning home from this event, she received word that she had been granted a berth at the Olympics when Nigeria decided not to send their athlete. China’s Xue Tan has won a world championship before, and could execute a repeat performance.
Outlook
The bracket may shift a bit as the final draws are determined the night before the event. Based on the initial seeding and bracket, all 3 US women are set to meet in the quarter-finals and semi-finals. If the bracket shifts, the US has the means to sweep the medals.
Elena Netchaeva may be the most likely roadblock for the Americans. In the Moscow and New York tournaments the US team shifted their bout order so that Sada Jacobson would not meet her in the final match of the team events. Jacobson later stated that she did not feel comfortable against Netchaeva and asked for the rotation in the bout order.
This event looks to be Sada Jacobson’s to win. She has 3 big hurdles: her sister, her teammate, and the Russian.
Prediction:
Gold: Sada Jacobson (USA)
Silver: Mariel Zagunis (USA)
Bronze: Elena Netchaeva (RUS)
Images courtesy Serge Timacheff / FencingPhotos.com