Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates.
Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event.
The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The last time a Taiwanese fencer competed in the Olympics was in 2012 in London, where Hsu Jo-ting (徐若庭) became the first female Taiwanese fencer to reach the Olympics.
Photo courtesy of Chen Yi-tung
After the competition, Chen told CNA the result was “like a dream” and he could hardly believe he had made it to Grand Palais, where the Olympic event will take place.
“I kept reminding myself to focus on each point despite the early advantage I took,” he said.
Chen, also known as Antonio, was first introduced to the sport as a third-grader at elementary school. According to the Chinese Taipei Fencing Association, there are only 34 male foil fencers in the world.
He entered the 15-man qualifier as the top seed and was dominant en route to the gold.
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