VANCOUVER 鈥� Eleanor Harvey made history when she stepped onto the podium in Paris.
Winning bronze in individual women's foil 鈥� Canada's first Olympic fencing medal 鈥� was only the beginning.
Since the 2024 Games, Harvey has medalled in four of the six tournaments she's competed in, and captured Canada's first World Cup gold in the process.
鈥淚 think going into the season after (the Olympics,) it gave me a lot of confidence in my preparation, in the attitude I want to have in my training and in competition," she said in an interview.
"And it gave me confidence that my team and I are good enough to beat the best in the world. And we are.鈥�
Harvey will look to climb the World Cup podium on home soil for the first time this week when Vancouver hosts the next stop on the tour. The competition runs Thursday through Sunday.
The 30-year-old three-time Olympian remains eager to perform on her sport's biggest stages.
鈥淓ven though I won a medal at the Olympics and I won this (World Cup) gold, I still have this feeling of 鈥榊ou have so much more to prove!鈥�" Harvey said. "And I think until that feeling goes away, I definitely have an interest in continuing to compete.鈥�
Part of what makes Harvey special is that she doesn't have an internal barrier telling her to stop, said Igor Gantsevich, high performance director at the Canadian Fencing Federation.
"She will go through fire to achieve her dream. And she has," he said. "That type of thing with an athlete, you either have it or you don鈥檛. You can鈥檛 really teach that.鈥�
Harvey grew up in Hamilton and fell in love with fencing as soon as she discovered it was a sport.
Getting to the highest level, though, required sacrifices for both the young athlete and her family. Her mom, Lise Graydon, sold her house so Harvey could compete around the globe.
She fenced at Ohio State, competed at the Rio Olympics and the Tokyo Games, and won silver in both the individual and team foil events at the 2023 Pan Am Games in Chile.
Harvey was thrust into the international limelight in Paris when she topped Italy's Alice Volpi in the bronze-medal bout.
An enduring image of the Games shows Harvey's shocked face the moment she realized she had won. Her red-and-white Maple Leaf mask perched atop her curly red hair, the fencer's face is broken into a broad, unbelieving grin.
Paris marked a shift for Harvey in how she approaches the mental side of her sport.
鈥淚 learned that I can trust myself, that I can handle situations where people are watching me, where there's a lot of pressure and stress associated with the moment," she said. "I can be strong in that situation, and I can't hyper focus on my goal.鈥�
The results continued to roll after the Olympics
Harvey took a brief break to visit London, England, with her mom, then travelled to Calgary to pack all her belongings in preparation for a move to Vancouver. Then it was back to training and competitions.
She took bronze at a World Cup in Tunisia in November, then followed it up with silver at a stop in South Korea the next month. In February, she won Grand Prix silver in Italy before taking World Cup gold in Egypt in March.
鈥淪he鈥檚 still hungry. Being the first-ever Olympic medallist for her is great, but that鈥檚 not good enough. She wants to be the best in the world," Gantsevich said. "And I can see her continuing for many years to come. She has that hunger.鈥�
After the World Cup win last month, Harvey took a moment to reflect on a career that has spanned half of her life.
"I realized when I won the gold medal in Cairo that I have been competing at World Cups, senior World Cups, for 15 years. And it took all that time to finally win one like that," she said. "That is a long time, and it's really, really hard to do that.鈥�
Now, Harvey is inspiring a new generation of athletes, both as a coach in Vancouver and as the face of Canadian fencing.
People routinely come up and tell her their daughters have taken up the sport after watching her compete. It's an interaction that reminds her of how she fell in love with fencing years ago after listening to a radio interview with four-time Canadian Olympian Sherraine Schalm.
"I remember how I saw her and how I still see her. And to know that younger kids are viewing me that way, it's actually something that I really don't take it lightly," Harvey said. "I'm very aware of that, and I really want to model my best traits, knowing that type of person is watching.鈥�
She isn't the only Canadian fencer drawing eyeballs.
Harvey was part of the women's foil team that narrowly missed the podium in Paris, finishing fourth after a close bout with Japan.
The success of that team is a huge motivation for the Olympic medallist.
"We've still never won a team medal in a World Cup, ever in history for women's foil. And I really want to be part of the first team to do that. And I really think that we will get there," she said.
On the men's side, Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., upset three-time defending champion Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi of Hungary in the men's sabre competition in Paris before losing to eventual gold medallist Oh Sang-uk of South Korea in the quarterfinals.
鈥淎thletes from other countries now see a Canadian in their path and they鈥檙e nervous, rather than 鈥極h, that鈥檚 a free win,'" Gantsevich said. "And that has major impacts on performance. It gives all of our athletes, all of our teams swagger, confidence, belief that we as a Canadian, we can do it.鈥�
The sport has exploded in growth over the past five years, he added, going from 3,000 competitive registrants in 2020 to 6,000 this year. New clubs are sprouting across the country and coaches are coming from around the world to teach and train.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 happen overnight, but it鈥檚 definitely growing," he said. "And it鈥檚 really special, what鈥檚 going on in our country right now.鈥�
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2025.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
