Massialas Wins Bronze
CHIBA, Japan – Alexander Massialas '16 earned a bronze medal in the men's team foil on Sunday, giving the three-time Olympian his third career Olympic medal.
Massialas out-touched two Japanese opponents and tied another, and scored the winning point, in the third-place match to help the U.S. to a 45-31 victory at the Makuhari Messe.
The performance closed the Olympic fencing competition for Stanford alumni -- Massialas and Hong Kong's Vivian Kong '16.
For Massialas, the bronze allowed him to end his Games on a high note. But it did not start out that way. Massialas revealed to columnist Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle that he spent 14 days in quarantine because of contact tracing. Though he competed in the individual foil last week, he otherwise was in isolation and missed vital training.
In the individual competition, Massialas was a first-round casualty as a No. 3 seed. And in the team quarterfinals and semifinals, the top-seeded American squad beat Germany, 45-36, but fell to the Russian Olympic Committee, 45-41.
Massialas, competing in his third Olympic Games, in 2016 became the first U.S. man to win two fencing medals in the same Olympic Games in more than a century, capturing silver as an individual and as part of the foil team that won bronze and also won the 2019 world title together.
Massialas is coached by his father Greg, at home in San Francisco and on the U.S. team, and was joined on the Olympic team by his sister, Sabrina, a member of U.S. Olympic foil team.
Vivian Kong/Photo by @GettyImages #OlympiansMadeHere
Kong, in her second Olympic Games, earned her highest individual finish, reaching the quarterfinals in the epee and powered Hong Kong to victory in the team epee seventh-place match.
Against the ROC for seventh, Hong Kong trailed 25-20, but Kong out-touched her opponent, Violetta Khrapina, 8-2, to rally her team to victory.
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Stanford's Olympic results:
Men
Individual foil: Alexander Massialas '16 (U.S.)
Round of 32 – Peter Joppich (Germany) d. Alexander Massialas, 15-12.
Team foil: Alexander Massialas '16 (U.S.)
Quarterfinals – U.S. 45, Germany 36 (Massialas: d. Andre Sanita, 5-2; d. Benjamin Kleibrink, 7-2; d. Peter Joppich, 5-4).
Semifinals – Russian Olympic Committee 45, U.S. 41 (Massialas: l. to Anton Borodachev, 1-5; d. Vladislav Mylnikov, 7-5; l. to Kirill Borodachev, 1-6).
Bronze medal – U.S. 45, Japan 31 (Massialas: d. Takahiro Shikine, 5-4; d. Yudai Nagano, 5-2; t. Kyosuke Matsuyama, 5-5).
Women
Individual epee: Vivian Kong '16 (Hong Kong).
Round of 32 – Vivian Kong d. Maria Luisa Doig Calderon (Peru), 15-11.
Round of 16 – Vivian Kong d. Renata Knapik-Miazga (Poland), 15-8.
Quarterfinals – Aizanat Murtazaeva (ROC) d. Vivian Kong, 15-10.
Team epee: Vivian Kong '16 (Hong Kong)
Quarterfinals: China 44, Hong Kong 32. (Kong: t. Sheng Lin, 4-4; l. to Mingye Zhu, 3-5; d. Yiwen Sun, 7-6).
Classifications 5-8: U.S. 42, Hong Kong 31. (Kong: d. Courtney Hurley, 7-3; l. to Kelley Hurley, 3-5; l. to Katharine Holmes, 1-5).
Placement 7-8: Hong Kong 28, Russian Olympic Committee 27 (Kong: l. Aizanat Murtazaeva, 2-5; d. Yulia Lichagina, 6-2; d. Violetta Khrapina, 8-2).
Alexander Massialas/Photo by @GettyImages #OlympiansMadeHere
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All-time Stanford fencing Olympians:
Nick Bravin (U.S.), men's foil: 1992 (Barcelona), 1996 (Atlanta).
Vivian Kong (Hong Kong), women's epee: 2016 (Rio de Janeiro), 2020 (Tokyo).
Alexander Massialas (U.S.), men's foil): 2012 (London), 2016 (Rio de Janeiro), 2020 (Tokyo).
Felicia Zimmermann (U.S.), women's foil: 1996 (Atlanta), 2000 (Sydney).
Iris Zimmermann (U.S.), women's foil: 2000 (Sydney).
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Articles on Stanford Olympians:
Vivian Kong: Click here
Alexander Massialas: Click here