Direct Elimination Podcast

She was the first Women's Saber Olympic Champion ever. She carried the US flag at London 2012, then lost when it mattered most. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis holds nothing back.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Mariel calls the London 2012 semifinal the most monumental failure of her career, and what she did with that failure afterward
• The brutal truth about what the system of amateur sport did to her ranking, stipend, and career the moment she became a mother
• The discipline-over-motivation framework she now teaches the next generation of US women's saber fencers
• Why she has never officially retired, and what the one Olympic goal still unchecked on her list is

Mariel Zagunis is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008), a Pan American Games champion, and one of the most decorated fencers in US history. She served as Team USA's flag bearer at the 2012 London Olympics and has been a defining figure in women's saber since the discipline's Olympic debut.

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

Have you ever had a moment where the pressure of the occasion completely overtook your preparation? Drop it in the comments below.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:20 - Early Success and Being a Trailblazer
00:03:52 - When Fencing Stopped Being Fun
00:05:59 - Pressure, the Flag, and London 2012
00:08:22 - The Most Monumental Failure of Her Career
00:09:27 - How Goals Evolved After the Loss
00:12:23 - Becoming a Mother and Feeling Punished by the Sport
00:15:41 - Three Hours of Sleep and Starting From Scratch
00:19:08 - Trial and Error: Training Smarter Not Harder
00:20:45 - Brutal Honesty, Self-Doubt, and Preparation
00:25:33 - Calling Out Ari
00:26:56 - The Warrior Mindset: What Still Drives Her
00:31:02 - Legacy and Passing the Torch
00:34:55 - Returning to Give Back: Mentoring the Next Generation
00:38:04 - Rapid Fire Questions

💬 BEST QUOTES
"when your motivation is lacking. That's where the discipline steps in." [00:04:29]
"I put my equipment on and I feel like a warrior, like literally going off to war. Any person who's in my path doesn't matter. I just am going to do my best to win. I want to win." [00:28:03]
"I'm constantly imagining that my opponent is doing more. And so I'm like, if they're doing more, I got to go the extra mile" [00:23:51]
"The will to win is inside of you." [00:37:40]

🔗 CONNECT WITH MARIEL
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariel.zagunis/

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Thank you for listening!

🔗 Check out FencR

🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app

🔗 Connect with Us

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

Months before winning the World Championship, Ryan Choi walked up to his coach and said he wanted to stop. What happened next changed everything.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why winning the Asian Cadet Championship at 14 planted the seeds of both ambition and identity-threatening pressure, and how that dynamic quietly shaped Ryan Choi's career
• How three years of sacrifice aimed at Paris ended without an Olympic spot, and what it felt like to contribute to a historic team result that still wasn't enough for Ryan personally
• The exact moment in Vancouver when Ryan told his coach he was done, and his coach's response that unexpectedly moved him and turned the entire season around
• Why self-forgiveness, not discipline or strategy, was the real turning point behind three consecutive wins and a World Championship title

Ryan Choi is a fencing world champion in foil and Hong Kong's highest-ranked fencer. Competing on the senior international circuit since his teens, he has represented Hong Kong at the World Championships, Olympic Games and across the FIE World Cup circuit, reaching world number one while openly describing himself as anything but a standard athlete.

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

Here's a question for the comments: Ryan says the will to win is accepting that you can lose. Do you think that kind of acceptance makes elite athletes stronger — or does it risk taking the edge off?

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro: World Champion Who Almost Quit
00:01:33 - Ryan's First International Win at 14
00:03:31 - Youth Olympics Silver and the Moment He Believed He Could Be the Best
00:04:33 - Three Years Chasing Paris
00:06:49 - First-Round Exits and Lost Direction
00:07:42 - Vancouver: The Breaking Point
00:09:09 - What his Coach Said That Changed Everything
00:10:10 - Three Wins in a Row Including the World Championship
00:12:58 - The Role of Self-Forgiveness in the Comeback
00:16:21 - Dealing with the Home Loss at Worlds in Hong Kong
00:20:27 - What Being Number One in the World Feels Like
00:23:19 - The Pressure of Being a Public Athlete in Hong Kong
00:24:59 - Rapid Fire Questions
00:28:03 - Closing

💬 BEST QUOTES
"I think mainly it's because I forgave myself at the hardest moment of my life."
"If you are heartbroken or you feel very sad about what you're doing, try to resist a little bit more. Just one more moment."
"The will to win is accepting that you can lose."
"I started to have the the mindset that maybe I'm one of the strongest now. And actually at that moment there's more pressure because I started to be greedy."

🔗 CONNECT WITH RYAN
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanchoiiiii/
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanChoiOfficial

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Thank you for listening!

🔗 Check out FencR

🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app

🔗 Connect with Us

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

He won the World Championship 6 months after hand surgery, then went on to become an Olympic medalist and one of the most dominant fencers of his generation. Gergely Siklósi on the mindset that changed everything.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Siklósi went from being cut from the Hungarian team to World Champion in under a year and the hand injury that forced the mental shift to make it possible
• The mantra he repeats before Olympic bouts to make winning matter less, and why deliberately devaluing the result is what frees him to perform at his best
• Why he was sitting nearly asleep in the Tokyo ready room while every other finalist was hyped up, and why he believes that was the correct call
• His honest assessment of his Koki Kano rivalry, why he is at peace saying Kano is ahead, and what he is still chasing at LA 2028

Gergely Siklósi is a Hungarian épée fencer, 2019 World Champion, Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist, and Paris 2024 Olympic Champion in teams. He is one of the most analytically honest voices in elite fencing on the mental side of the sport.

After listening: what is the one thing Siklósi said that most challenges how you think about competing or how you think about wanting to win? Drop it in the comments.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction: Who Is Gergely Siklósi?
00:01:48 - The Friendship and Watching Siklósi’s Success
00:04:24 - The Hand Injury, Surgery, and Recovery
00:05:23 - Rediscovering Joy: How Less Became More
00:07:43 - Quality vs. Quantity - The Training Lesson That Changed Everything
00:09:00 - The 2019 World Championship Final: Down 10-13
00:10:54 - Trusting Your Training: Fencing Without Thinking
00:14:49 - Making Winning Matter Less
00:15:35 - Tokyo Olympics
00:19:35 - The Silver Medal That Haunted Him for 18 Months
00:23:01 - Paris 2024 and the One-Touch Team Final
00:25:34 - The Koki Kano Rivalry: Respect, Honesty, and the War Not Over
00:27:05 - The Goal He Is Willing to Say Out Loud: LA 2028
00:32:26 - Rapid Fire

💬 BEST QUOTES
"I was training so hard and it turns out quantity is not better than quality training." [00:04:10]
"I felt like I found the joy of fencing, because till then, I was training for success.I wanted to win, I was fighting for it. And then I realized that less can be more." [00:05:23]
"My family loves me, my friends love me and I have a good life, and losing here is not going to change that. Winning, winning here, it's not going to change that. So I make the winning less serious, less rewarding." [00:15:03]
"The will to win is reachable. I think, especially in fencing, anyone can get there." [00:35:38]

🔗 CONNECT WITH GERGELY
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siklosigergo/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gergosiklosi

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Thank you for listening!

🔗 Check out FencR

🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app

🔗 Connect with Us

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

Eleanor Harvey, Canada’s first Olympic Fencing medalist, gets deep about the emotional dysregulation she felt following the Paris Games, how she sets herself up for success, and what the will to win looks like in one of the sport’s top athletes.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Eleanor deliberately kills her own ego before every tournament and why she believes that mental reflex is the reason she wins
• The unexpected emotional crash after achieving a lifelong dream: two weeks as 'a shell of a human' that nobody talks about
• How food poisoning, grief, and COVID accidentally unlocked Eleanor's best fencing, and what that reveals about pressure and performance
• Why the losses that haunt elite athletes aren't the ones they were outskilled in, but the ones where the fight simply wasn't there

Eleanor Harvey is one of Canada's most decorated athletes, a senior World Cup winner, and the athlete at the center of Canada's historic rise in women's foil. She's also one of the most psychologically honest competitors you'll hear in any sport.

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

💬 What's a moment in your own sport (or life) where zero expectations actually set you free? Drop it in the comments.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introducing Eleanor Harvey
00:01:17 - Being the Favorite: The Target on Your Back
00:02:04 - The Superstition of Never Expecting to Win
00:04:23 - Yoga, Mindfulness & Staying Present Under Pressure
00:05:16 - Two Weeks as a Shell: Life After the Olympic Medal
00:06:59 - Returning to Training & Feeling Like You Suck Again
00:08:47 - How Chaos and Low Expectations Unlock Your Best Fencing
00:09:52 - Who You Are Off the Strip Is Who You Are On It
00:11:04 - Canada's Rise
00:15:59 - Fourth Place at the Olympics & Getting Cyber Bullied in France
00:18:23 - One Touch Situations: The Will to Win vs. Being Weak
00:20:04 - The Best Feeling in Fencing: Manifesting a Touch
00:21:44 - Advice to a Younger Eleanor: There Is No Secret Ingredient
00:25:40 - The Man Who Criticized Her Footwork After the Olympics
00:27:22 - Rapid Fire

💬 BEST QUOTES
"in the next like two weeks after winning the medal, I was almost like the shell of a human. I was so overwhelmed and it was so hard to process what had happened, because that had always been my dream."
"the losses that hurt the most are the ones where you just lost because you were just your will wasn't as strong as the other person."
"you actually don't have any control over the result at all. By the time you get to the tournament, you just have to go fence, and what is going to happen is already going to happen."

🔗 CONNECT WITH ELEANOR
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eleamorgue/

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Thank you for listening!

🔗 Check out FencR

🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app

🔗 Connect with Us

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

Kaito Streets left Team USA to fence for Japan, where he has both missed and qualified for Olympic Games in the last 10 years. Through the ups, downs, wins and almosts of his career, Kaito's resilience speaks for itself. 

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Kaito switched from representing the US to Japan, and what it meant to him in pride, perception, and belonging between two cultures
• What it actually feels like to stand on the Olympic strip: the shaking, the fear, the joy, and why Kaito says he'll never feel anything like it again
• How Kaito nearly retired after Tokyo, nearly retired again after missing Paris, and what finally convinced him to chase LA 2028
• The 'win or learn' philosophy behind starting the Tokyo International Fencing Academy, and why Kaito says keeping elite knowledge to himself would be selfish

Kaito Streets is an American-Japanese Olympian who competed for Japan at the Tokyo 2020 Games and is a founding coach of the Tokyo International Fencing Academy. He is one of the more recognizable faces growing fencing internationally through competition, content creation, and coaching.

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

💬 Have you ever had to choose between two identities, in sport, work, or life? Drop your take in the comments.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:15 - Comedy, Content Creation & Athlete Persona
00:06:09 - The Switch: Why He Left Team USA for Japan
00:10:02 - Adapting to Japanese Culture and Earning His Spot
00:11:54 - Tokyo Olympics: Pure Human Emotion on the Strip
00:16:47 - COVID, Family Absent & Nearly Retiring After Tokyo
00:18:35 - Missing Paris & Considering Retirement Again at 30
00:19:22 - Why He Chose to Come Back for LA 2028
00:20:16 - The Only Real Way to Fail
00:21:25 - The World Championship Bronze Medal Match
00:25:07 - Win or Learn: The Mindset That Keeps Him Going
00:27:10 - Starting the Tokyo International Fencing Academy
00:28:43 - Teaching as a Renewal of Passion
00:32:49 - Growing Fencing Into a Mainstream Sport
00:35:58 - Rapid Fire & Closing Thoughts

💬 BEST QUOTES
"When I got to the Olympics, I've never felt emotion like that before. I was, nervous, scared, happy, like everything you could think of in one." [00:13:08]
"I think you learn the most in your losses." [00:26:01]
"The will to win is learned after a loss." [00:38:53]

🔗 CONNECT WITH KAITO
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaitostreets/?hl=en
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@kaitocstreets⁩ 

CONNECT WITH TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FENCING ACADEMY
🌐: https://tifa-fencing.jp/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tokyointlfencingacademy/

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

Thank you for listening!

🔗 Check out FencR

🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app

🔗 Connect with Us

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

How powerful is manifestation? In Paris 2024, Mohamed Elsayed won bronze, and then finally opened a video that he recorded on his phone in 2021.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Mohamed Elsayed turned years of one-touch losses in quarterfinals into the exact skills that won him an Olympic medal, and why he says he didn't know those losses were building something the whole time.
• The multi-year promise: why Mo recorded a message to himself as an anonymous spectator at Tokyo 2021, never re-watched it, and what happened when he finally opened it the day after Paris.
• What "just be yourself" actually means at the Olympic level, Mo's take on full preparation followed by total self-trust, and why that's the opposite of laziness.
• How to mentally move on from a devastating loss: Mo's framework for processing failure, detaching from results, and showing up ready two weeks later.

Mohamed Elsayed is an Egyptian Olympic bronze medalist in épée fencing from the Paris 2024 Games, one of only two Egyptian Olympic fencing medalists, and a fencer who has built his career on mastering the one-touch moment under maximum pressure.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction: Who Is Mohamed Elsayed
00:01:34 - The Art of the One-Touch Moment
00:03:32 - Trusting Yourself When It Counts Most
00:06:03 - There Is Always a Comeback
00:08:47 - The Video Promise: Tokyo 2021 to Paris 2024
00:11:53 - Goal Setting, Wish Lists, and Becoming a Legend
00:14:10 - How to Respond to Devastating Loss
00:17:09 - Learning to Move On
00:21:13 - Dealing With the Pressure of Expectations
00:25:44 - What 'Just Be Yourself' Actually Means
00:27:35 - Trusting Yourself When Everything Works Against You
00:29:57 - Flow State: What Freedom Feels Like on the Strip
00:32:41 - Living the Dream From the Inside Out
00:35:26 - Rapid Fire: Peace, Poker Face, and Who Mo Is Off the Strip
00:37:27 - Closing

💬 BEST QUOTES
"I didn't know that every touch I lost was building up to a greater moment." [00:02:52]
"I think it was just, a pure moment of me promising myself…I'm talking to my future self about me being there, and, I just have to wait." [00:10:03]
"The will to win is yours." [00:37:32]

🔗 CONNECT WITH MO
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_supermooo/
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamsupermooo

🔗 CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4G1LSu4ubtqTUH17nfFs0f
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

Thank you for listening!

🔗 Check out FencR

🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app

🔗 Connect with Us

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

Kaylin Hsieh won her first Grand Prix gold sick, alone, and with nothing to lose, and came to share some of the ups and downs of her professional athletic career.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Kaylin used illness at the Doha Grand Prix to strip away pressure and fence with complete freedom, and why that mindset produced her best result
• Why she deliberately documents wins and losses publicly, and the deeper reason elite athletes staying silent is a disservice to the next generation
• What it actually feels like to abandon your entire fencing identity and rebuild from zero under a new coaching system, and how that process led to a breakthrough
• How she answered the hardest question in elite Olympic sport: is it all worth it if there's no Olympic medal at the end?

Kaylin Hsieh is a Hong Kong national team fencer, U17 World Champion, Grand Prix gold medalist, and NCAA champion who has represented Hong Kong for years on the international stage while navigating the pressure of elite competition Olympic qualification. She is one of the most transparent voices in fencing today.

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction: Who Is Kaylin Hsieh?
00:01:23 - The Doha Grand Prix
00:03:41 - What Being Sick Taught Her About Acceptance
00:06:21 - How Experience Compounds and The Process Mindset
00:08:35 - What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?
00:11:03 - Transparency in Elite Sport
00:13:38 - Finding Joy as the Key to Winning
00:16:50 - Is It All Worth It If There's No Olympic Medal?
00:17:13 - The Moment That Changed Everything
00:18:37 - Coming Back to Hong Kong
00:22:16 - Grieving the Conventional Life She Didn't Live
00:24:36 - The Fear She's Never Talked About in an Interview
00:25:15 - Learning to Let Go of Her Old Self
00:28:56 - Rapid Fire

💬 BEST QUOTES
"I knew that I may not be able to perform at my best, but I knew that I could overcome this."
"I had to let go of who I was and to become someone that I haven't been before."
"Even if I fail, I get to show others that it's okay to go for your dreams."
"My biggest fear was just just losing. But like it's normal... if you don't lose, how would you win?"
"The will to win comes within you."

🔗 CONNECT WITH KAYLIN
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylinhsieh/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kaylinhsieh
🤝 LinkedIn: https://hk.linkedin.com/in/kaylinhsieh
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@kaylinhsieh⁩ 

🔗 CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4G1LSu4ubtqTUH17nfFs0f
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

Thank you for listening!

🔗 Check out FencR

🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app

🔗 Connect with Us

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

Duke Fencing Head Coach Omar Elgeziry on why there's no luck in college fencing, and the meditation secret behind every Duke practice.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Omar believes college fencing structurally eliminates luck, and how the round-robin format changes everything an international fencer thinks they know
• The guided visualization and meditation sessions Omar runs at the start and end of every Duke practice, and why he keeps doing it even when athletes fall asleep
• Genuinely contrarian college recruiting advice: why Omar tells athletes to ignore big names and championships and choose the school that makes them grow as a person
• How Stanford joining the ACC and the men's and women's championship split are reshaping the competitive landscape of NCAA fencing

Omar Elgeziry is an Olympian and World Champion modern pentathlete, fencer, and current head fencing coach at Duke University. He is also one of the few coaches in the country who has led programs across three different NCAA regions.

If you're a high school fencer or a fencing parent navigating the recruiting process, drop your biggest question below — Omar's answer at 00:09:48 might change how you're thinking about your search.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:21 - Who Is Omar Elgeziry?
00:03:00 - From Olympic Pentathlete to College Fencing Coach
00:05:22 - Why College Fencing Has No Luck
00:06:23 - Growing Fencing in the NCAA
00:09:08 - What Makes Duke Fencing Different?
00:09:48 - Real College Recruiting Advice
00:13:02 - NCAA Changes: Stanford to ACC, Men's & Women's Split
00:15:14 - The Most Important Quality in a College Fencer
00:19:01 - Visualization & Meditation: Omar's Secret Coaching Weapon
00:24:48 - One-Light Answers
00:29:06 - Outro

💬 BEST QUOTES
"I came to this country because I was following my guts. I just wanted to live the American dream." [00:03:04]
"There is no there's no luck in college fencing." [00:05:24]
"Go for the school that will make you grow. Don't just go for a school that's a big name, or that will win a championship, or it's just going to be easy for you to win. Just challenge yourself." [00:10:51]
"If you see it, [and] you make it happen in your mind. It actually will happen in reality." [00:21:45]

Theme Song Written and Performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en

🔗 Connect with Omar Elgeziry
🌐: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-elgeziry-oly-98a65b12b
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omarelgeziry/

🔗 Connect with Duke Fencing
🌐: https://goduke.com/sports/fencing
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dukefen/

Thank you for listening!

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🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/

3× Individual Olympic champion Áron Szilágyi on the Achilles injury that changed everything and why losing at Paris felt like freedom.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• What Szilágyi is looking forward to in his upcoming competitions and seasons
• How his first career injury forced him to rebuild his identity around small wins like walking and footwork, not gold medals
• What it felt like to finally lose at the Olympics, and why 'liberating' is the word he chose
• The one sentence that defines his entire competitive philosophy: what the will to win actually means when the desire runs out

Áron Szilágyi is the only sabre fencer in history to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals (London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020). He is a three-time World Champion, a six-time European Champion, and also the recipient of the FIE Fair Play Award. 

This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction
01:31 - First Career Injury: Achilles Surgery
04:03 - The Mental Side of Rehab
05:07 - Preparing for the Body You No Longer Know
07:50 - Mindset Going Into Worlds
13:00 - Paris 2024: Inside the One-Minute Break
15:32 - What Losing at the Olympics Actually Taught Him
17:00 - Processing Failure as a Team
22:25 - Which Olympic Gold Felt Most Impossible
24:18 - The Fair Play Award
29:00 - Rapid Fire
33:53 - Closing and Where to Follow Áron

💬 QUOTES
"Every day, every morning I had to choose to do this. So I had to talk myself into going to the physio, doing the work and getting better." 
"I learned much more [from this loss] than from the Olympic titles I won. And that’s always true with failures, I guess."
"After I accepted it, it was a liberating feeling that I don't have to be the person, you know, who wins the Olympic Games. No, I've been to an Olympics where I was beaten, and that's fine. That's good actually."
"I had this kind of imposter syndrome after London that I felt like I shouldn't have won this because I'm not Olympic Champion material."
"The will to win is to be able to do what's necessary."

🔗 CONNECT WITH ÁRON
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/szilagyi_aron/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aronszilagyi_official
🤝 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/szilagyi-aron/

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/

Thank you for listening!

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🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
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USA Fencing's CEO, Phil Andrews, reveals influencer and K-pop deals, a sport-saving radio campaign & what the sport's growth strategy is as we approach the LA 2028 Olympic Games. This episode will surprise you.

The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.

In this episode, you'll discover:
• How USA Fencing became the ninth most mentioned brand on US radio in December (the only sport ever to achieve it) and why that matters more than Paris 2024 medal counts for long-term growth
• The full celebrity and influencer strategy targeting LA 2028: from the Gardiner Brothers and Dolph Lundgren to Jenson Button and a K-pop activation designed to open fencing to entirely new audiences
• Why the NCAA pipeline is central to USA Fencing's future, including new programs at Trinity College, HBCU outreach, and how membership growth is directly funding more athletes — including para fencing for the first time
• What Phil Andrews actually walked into when he became CEO in 2022, and how a British ice hockey player ended up leading one of America's most storied Olympic sports federations

Phil Andrews has served as CEO of USA Fencing since 2022, previously leading USA Weightlifting. He is one of the most unconventional and candid executives in American Olympic sport.

💬 What would it take for YOU to bring a friend to try fencing? Drop your answer below — Phil's actually thinking about this.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro & Welcome to the New York Athletic Club
00:01:06 - US Fencing Foundation Gala
00:03:02 - Phil Andrews' Background: From London 2012 to USA Fencing CEO
00:05:10 - Stabilizing USA Fencing: Challenges Inherited in 2022
00:08:14 - USA Fencing's Mission to Grow & Popularize the Sport
00:09:08 - iHeartMedia Deal & Radio Campaign Impact
00:11:30 - Celebrity & Influencer Activations: Gardiner Brothers, Dolph Lundgren, Jenson Button
00:13:59 - Community Outreach
00:19:06 - Lowering the Barrier: How Fast Can Someone Try Fencing?
00:20:38 - Paris 2024 Results vs. iHeartMedia Campaign Reach
00:22:44 - NCAA Pipeline, HBCU Outreach & Trinity College Announcement
00:24:19 - Athlete Funding Growth Across Weapons & Para Fencing
00:25:56 - US Fencing's Rising International Competitive Results
00:30:15 - One Light Answers
00:35:05 - Closing Remarks 

💬 BEST QUOTES
"Fencing is not well enough respected in the circles that it should be. I think that's something that we're hoping to change between now. I think we've started to change it, and I think it's something we're hoping to change between now and 2028."
"If 4 or 5 people from that [collaboration] go 'that looks cool, I want to go and try some fencing.' That is success."
"[Fencing was] the ninth most mentioned brand on the US radio during December of last year, the only sport ever to have achieved that."
"I like being the dumbest human in the room. Great news in fencing is I'm usually dumbest person in the room."

Theme Song Written and Performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en

🔗 Connect with Phil Andrews
🌐: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philandrews2
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a.phil/?hl=en

🔗 Connect with USA Fencing
🌐: https://www.usafencing.org/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usafencing/

Thank you for listening!

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🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
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📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination

🔗 Prieur USA

🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/