Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey has entered uncharted territory.
Harvey became the first Canadian ever to win an Olympic fencing medal when she captured bronze with a 15-12 win over reigning world champion Alice Volpi of Italy in women’s foil competition at the historic Grand Palais in Paris.
The Italian fought back from a 10-4 deficit, but Harvey rebounded to win Canada’s second medal of the Olympics.
“I think it’ll be nice to relax and take some time to absorb the feeling because when I scored the last point I couldn’t believe it and I still can’t believe it,” Harvey told reporters after the win.
Harvey lost 15-9 to American Lauren Scruggs in the semifinals, sending her to the bronze-medal match.
“Honestly, I’m still quite in shock. It will take a little while to kick in,” Harvey told CBC Olympics. “But I was feeling … positive. My team is amazing, they just helped me get back in a good mindset because I was pretty upset after how I fenced (in the semifinals). It wasn’t my best. I was just really glad to bounce back.
Harvey advanced to the semifinals with a 15-14 upset of No. 4 seed Martina Favaretto of Italy.
The Hamilton, Ont., native, seeded 12th, rallied from an 8-2 deficit in the second period for her third win of the competition in the quarterfinals.
Harvey is competing in her third Olympics. Her best previous showing was a quarterfinal appearance in 2016 in Rio, previously Canada’s best individual result in the sport.
“It’s a very strange, surreal feeling,” Harvey told reporters.
Harvey said before the 2021 Olympics that she was retiring after Tokyo, per Scott Radley of the Hamilton Spectator, but then decided to take another shot.
Canada has made noise in the first two days of fencing competition in Paris.
On Saturday, Fares Arfa beat three-time reigning Olympic champ Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in a run to the quarterfinals.
