Elaine Gayle Cheris (born January 8, 1946) is an American Olympic foil and épée fencer.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elaine Gayle Cheris |
| Born | January 8, 1946 Dothan, Alabama, United States |
| Height | 5-7.5 (172 cm) |
| Weight | 121 lb (55 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Country | USA |
| Sport | Fencing |
| Event(s) | Foil and epee |
Early and personal life
editCheris was born in Dothan, Alabama, and is Jewish.[1][2][3][4] She earned a BS in Physical Education and Sports Psychology at Troy University, where she competed on the men's track team, in 1971.[1][5][6] She married Sam David Cheris, a lawyer, in 1980.[7][6]
Fencing career
editCheris began fencing at 29 years of age.[8] She was working at the time as the assistant athletic director at a Jewish Community Center in New Haven, Connecticut, where she put together a fencing program and decided to try the sport.[8] In 1979 she quit her job to train for the Olympic tryouts.[8]
Cheris qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia.[8] She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead.[9]
She did compete for the United States in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul in foil at the age of 42 (she was knocked out by Italian silver medalist Laura Chiesa, 15–13), and in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta in épée at the age of 50 (the second-oldest female US Olympic fencer ever, after Maxine Mitchell).[1][8] Cheris was an alternate in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, having missed making the team by one touch.[8]
Cheris won an individual silver medal and a team gold medal at the 1981 Maccabiah Games.[1][8] At the end of the 1985 season, she was the number 1 US female foil fencer at age 39.[6] She won a gold medal in team foil at the 1987 Pan American Games, and a gold medal in team épée at the 1991 Pan American Games.[1][8]
Cheris was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.[8] In 1993, the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime awarded her its Gold Medal of Honor.[8]
She founded the fencing club the Cheyenne Fencing Society and Modern Pentathlon Center of Denver in Denver, Colorado.[1][8][10] Cheris has authored Fencing: Steps to Success (2002), which is a step-by-step teaching method.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Elaine Cheris Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
- ^ "Jewish Post 17 August 1988 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ "Jewish Post 26 October 1988 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ "Encyclopaedia Judaica Year Book". Encyclopaedia Judaica. February 9, 1983. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ The World Who's who of Women. Melrose Press. February 9, 1995. ISBN 9780948875120. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c "Lack of Competition Here Continues to Foil Her : Top American Fencer Elaine Cheris Would Like to Challenge to the Europeans". Associated Press. January 26, 1986. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via LA Times.
- ^ Who's who in Finance and Industry. Marquis Who's Who. February 9, 2018. ISBN 9780837903378. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Evangelista, Nick; Evangelista, Anita (February 9, 2018). The Woman Fencer. Wish Publishing. ISBN 9781930546486. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
- ^ "Cheyenne Fencing & Modern Pentathlon - Fencing classes in Denver". Cheyenne Fencing & Modern Pentathlon - Fencing classes in Denver. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ Cheris, Elaine (February 9, 2018). Fencing: Steps to Success. Human Kinetics. ISBN 9780873229722. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
