St. John’s fencer loses in Olympic quarterfinals

St. John’s alumnus Keeth Smart will not be coming back from Beijing with an individual Olympic medal, after a heartbreaking 15-13 defeat at the hands of France’s Julien Pillet in the quarterfinals of the men’s sabre event.
Smart, who was seeded fifth in the individual sabre tournament, dominated his first two matches defeating his fellow American Jason Rogers 15-3 in the round of 32 on Monday, August 11. He then dispatched Hungary’s Aron Szilagyi by a score 15-10 in the round of 16 earning him a spot in the final eight of the 64-person individual tournament.
During his quarterfinals match-up with Pillet, Smart jumped out to an early advantage, but he could not hold onto the lead that would have sent him into the semifinals with two chances to fence for a medal
“I guess I just made a strategic error after the break (at 8-5) where he changed somewhat, waiting for me to use my aggression against me,” Smart said in an article in USA Today. “Looking back on it, I can really learn from this. I should’ve finished the match when I was up 9-5. I’ll be thinking about that for a while.”
However, Smart will have to put the disappointing loss behind him quickly as his quest for an Olympic medal still has one more hope when the U.S. men’s sabre team competes in the eight-team tournament on Sunday, August 17.
“He’s a seasoned veteran so we look up to him,” his teammate Rogers said shortly before the team left for Beijing. “He’s great; we couldn’t have a better team captain.”
Although the U.S. team is not considered one of the favorites to medal in the team competition, overcoming adversity and defying the odds is not something new to Smart. Five months ago, Smart, 30, was in a hospital in Algeria fighting for his life after contracting a rare blood disease that doctors thought would surely put an end to his fencing career. He made a miraculous recovery and resumed his Olympic training activities in less than a month.
However, Smart will not be the only Queens connection with a shot at gold in fencing. Dagmara Wozniak, 20, who will begin her sophomore year at St. John’s during the fall semester, is a member of the U.S. women’s sabre team, which will be one of the favorites to win gold in the team competition that begins on Thursday.
Wozniak, who was one of the alternates for the individual sabre competition, watched her three Olympic teammates; Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson and Becca Ward sweep the gold, silver and bronze during the individual sabre event. These medals were the first medals the U.S. racked up in Beijing.
You can og onto qns.com during the week to find out how your local Olympians fared in their quests for Olympic glory.