Elaine Cheris

Elaine Cheris competed at the 1988 Olympics in foil, but once épée became an Olympic event for women, she switched to that weapon, and competed with it at the 1996 Olympics. In 1996, Cheris was 50-years-old, the second oldest US women fencer ever, after Maxine Mitchell, who was 51 at the 1968 Olympics. At the Pan American Games, Cheris won a gold in team foil in 1987 and a gold in team épée in 1991. She won individual silver and team gold at the 1981 Maccabiah Games. She also competed at the World Fencing Championships five times.

Cheris graduated from Troy State University in 1970, and early in her athletic career focused on swimming and running, and only took up fencing later in life. She later coached the women’s swim team at Yale. Cheris would have been a good fit for the modern pentathlon, but it was not on the Olympic Program for women when she was younger. Cheris put that ability to good use when she opened the Cheyenne Fencing Society and Modern Pentathlon Center in Denver, which she operated and co-owned.