Pieter Mijer

Pieter Mijer learned to fence at the age of 10 in Schiedam, Netherlands. He emigrated to the United States in 1917 with his wife and worked as a textile designer, especially as an authority on batik (wax-resistant dyeing on textiles) work. In 1919, he published a book Batiks and How to Make Them.

Mijer became a US citizen in 1943. In 1922, he won his first medal at the US Nationals when he finished second in the 3-weapon individual event. Mijer won 10 US National medals, with six titles – 3-weapon team in 1923 and 1941, épée individual in 1927, and team épée in 1929, 1949, and 1955, the last when he was 74-years-old. In addition to competing for the Netherlands at the 1928 Olympics, Mijer was entered for the 1932 Los Angles Games, but did not compete.

Mijer was well liked in the United States because he also helped run competitions in which he was not competing, donated numerous medals for competitions, and wrote up many of the results for American Fencing magazine. He was also an artist and in 1952 donated two of his paintings to raise money for the US Olympic fencing team.