Olympic medalist and Hamilton-born fencer Eleanor Harvey says that she’s got more fire inside of her and is ready to face more challenges.
Harvey won Canada’s first-ever fencing medal last Sunday at the Paris 2024 Olympics, taking the bronze medal in women’s foil.
The Westdale Secondary School graduate out-pointed Italian Alice Volpi 15-12 playing an aggressive style which flummoxed the veteran.
Earlier on Friday Harvey and her teammates beat France to reach the semifinals before missing victory against Japan by one point in a 33-32 finish.
Harvey told CHCH News that while a second medal would have been special, she felt proud of how supportive and positive she and her teammates were with each other. “My team is super young and we’ll be back, so I’m just feeling proud of how we competed,” she said.
“I know I have so much more inside of me, I have so much more fire.”
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This is the 29-year-old Harvey’s third Olympics. Her best prior finish was her fifth place in the team foil at the Tokyo Olympics. She has won multiple Pan Am Games and world championships medals.
Harvey told CHCH News that ever since her medal win she’s been receiving texts from Hamilton-based friends and family including, “Yeah! Represent Hamilton!”
She said the support she’s received from her hometown made her happy and that she fully appreciates the warm feelings from the city where she developed her skills.
Harvey grew up in Hamilton and attended Dalewood Middle School and then graduated from Westdale while dedicating much of her free time training. She told CHCH that her friends and family supported her “obsession” with the sport and was motivated by the support of her colleague, coach, and former Olympian Josh McGuire.
She said, “All of my teachers knew about my fencing and were very supportive and excited to see a kid with a passion.”
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Harvey said if she could speak to her younger self, she would tell her to “lean into your obsession and accept that about yourself” and to not “feel like you need to do other things just because it’s normal to be a ‘full-time fencer.'”
Harvey plans to return to Hamilton to visit sometime in the fall – to experience more warm memories with friends in family, but first she’s got a busy schedule driving between Calgary and Vancouver after Paris.
She said that she’s going to take great care of herself physically and mentally but she’s not ready to hang her foil just yet. “My goal right now is to take it year by year, but right now I couldn’t be more motivated, more excited for the future of my team and Canadian fencing in general.”
