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By Brendan Shaughnessy
Ottawa is of course recognized as the country’s political capital, but the city is quietly assuming the title of sword-swinging capital of Canada, with a strong contingent of locally-trained fencers set to attack Toronto and the 2015 Pan American Games.
Ottawa native Kelleigh Ryan leads the medal-favourite Canadian women’s foil contingent into the Games, while Calgary’s Alanna Goldie and Hamilton’s Eleanor Harvey have spent time training under national team coach Paul ApSimon at the RA Centre.
Modern pentathletes Garnett Stevens and Melanie McCann were drawn into town by the presence of Pentathlon Canada head coach John Hawes, while ApSimon’s expertise in the first sport of the five in their single-day event has proven to be a major bonus.
Five years ago, McCann left her southwestern Ontario hometown of Mount Carmel to set up shop in Ottawa. Looking back, the London 2012 Olympian calls it “the best decision ever.”
The fencing event has become McCann’s bread-and-butter. The 25-year-old parlayed a 2nd-place showing in the discipline into a top-10 overall performance at the June 8-14 World Cup Final in Belarus.
ApSimon says there is no mystery to McCann’s upswing.
“Modern pentathlon is about experience,” explains the Henry Munro Middle School phys ed teacher. “I feel that in the next year, we’ll see her on the podium at a World Cup. She’ll be ready.”
ApSimon has a running (half-)joke with McCann that she should focus her energy on fencing full-time. Less laundry with the one sport, no more laser-gun-related hassles at airport security, he notes.
McCann’s answer is always the same.
“I really just have some goals for myself, now that I’m 10 years on in this pentathlon journey, and I really would like to see them through into the next Olympics,” explains the London 2012 11th-place finisher. “I love the diversity of the five sports. The physical challenge, the mental challenge, the emotional challenge that all five sports present at once. I like being that diverse athlete.
“But who knows? Maybe I’ll switch over (to fencing) when I’m a washed-up pentathlete.”
That’s a long way off for Stevens – still a junior-age eligible athlete who picked a fine time to qualify for his first national team. The 21-year-old doesn’t think he’ll even hit his peak for another five years – just in time for the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’m just going to Toronto with the approach of having fun,” indicates Stevens, whose older sister Mathea has represented Canada on numerous past occasions in modern pentathlon. “If I don’t do well, wash my hands of it. Doesn’t really matter. If I do well, good on me. But I’m confident, I’m feeling good.”
The Pan Am Games won’t be new to McCann. At the 2011 Pan Ams in Mexico, she finished 4th and clinched a spot in the following year’s Olympics. The stakes will be the same in Toronto (top-5 win Rio 2016 Olympic berths), but the event itself will mean more.
“It’s a big deal for me because it’s probably the only time I’ll get to compete on home soil at a major Games,” McCann underlines. “I had a big group of people come and watch me in London when I competed at my first Olympics, and I really fed off their energy. I think that (energy) is gonna be more so for the Pan Am Games.”
Fencers target U.S. foes
Meanwhile, Canada’s female foil fencers are hoping to translate the energy of home-piste advantage into an upset win over USA in the team competition. They’ve finished second to the U.S. in every Pan Am tournament for the last seven years running.
“It makes a big difference to have that support there,” signals Goldie, who was in Ottawa for a week of training in June, and visited youngsters at Tumblers Gymnastics Centre – “an amazing experience for our athletes to learn a bit of what it takes to be a high-performance athlete,” Tumblers coach Alina Florea notes.
“It’s always comfortable being in your home country,” Goldie adds. “You know the foods you can eat, water you can drink – stuff like that.”
The Ohio State Buckeyes fencer enjoyed the presence of a home crowd at the past two NCAA Championships, where she’s won a bronze medal in back-to-back years (Lee Kiefer, the star of U.S. women’s foil and ranked #3 in the world, has won the event three years running).
This year, Goldie took a huge step forward by beating 2012 Olympic champion Elisa Di Francisca at a World Cup event. Perhaps more importantly, she has gotten achingly close to beating Kiefer, losing a bout 15-13 last year.
With three of the top-20 foil fencers in the world, Team USA are the heavy gold medal favourites.
Glebe Collegiate Institute grad Ryan, now based in New York, is the top-ranked Canadian at #28. The last time the teams met, the Americans collectively trounced Canada, 41-30.
“On paper, there’s no way we should even be coming close to the Americans,” ApSimon echoes. “However, on any given day, each Canadian fencer can beat each American fencer. We just have to have a perfect match in order to beat them.”
The Scarborough venue is sold out for the preliminary and medal rounds of the women’s team foil competition on the second-to-last day of the Games on July 25, which could provide the boost the Canadians need, ApSimon maintains.
“The refereeing in foil is very subtle, so assuming the crowd makes a lot of noise, those subtleties will pay off in a one or two-hit bout,” he explains. “The crowd could very well be the difference.”