Mark Midler

Mark Midler took up fencing in 1943 and rose to the Soviet national team in 1951. Midler fenced with the Soviet team for 17 years and he was considered as one of the top foil fencers of the world at the start of 1960s. Although considered as one of the top foil fencers of the world, Midler never won an individual major title. But, being the captain of Soviet foil team, he led the Soviets to the eight consecutive victories of major tournaments between 1959 and 1966. He won the Olympic team foil golds in 1960 and 1964 and the World team foil titles in 1959, 1961-1963, 1965 and 1966. At the Olympics, where Midler fenced four times (1952-1964), his best individual finish was fifth in 1960, while at the World Championships, where he fenced twelve times from 1953-1967, Midler won individual foil silver in 1957 and individual foil bronzes in 1959 and 1961. He also won the team foil silvers in 1958 and 1967 at the World Championships and he won the European Team Foil Cup from 1965-1968. Domestically, Midler won the Soviet individual foil title six times (1954-1957, 1963 and 1965) and Soviet cup in 1961. After finishing his sporting career, Midler has worked as a fencing coach. For nearly 30 years, from 1971 until 2000, Midler was the coach of Soviet and later Russian national foil team. He was also the head coach of Soviet 1980 Olympic foil team, Unified Team 1992 Olympic foil team and Russian 1996 and 2000 Olympic foil teams.