Canada's Eleanor Harvey competes in the women's foil team bronze medal bout between Canada and Japan during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Grand Palais in Paris, on Aug. 1.FABRICE COFFRINI/Getty Images
On Sunday, Eleanor Harvey became the first Canadian to win a medal in fencing at the Olympics. On Thursday, she tried to become the first Canadian to win two but fell just short.
Harvey and her teammates – Yunjia Zhang, 16, Sabrina Fang, 19, and Jessica Guo, who is also 19 – lost the bronze bout in women’s foil team to Japan 33-32 at the Grand Palais.
Harvey, 29, made Canadian history by winning bronze in the individual foil event last Sunday.
She led the team on Thursday and was the only Canadian to win two relays. In the dying seconds of the bout, with Canada down by one point, Harvey tried a final lunge against Yuka Ueno but couldn’t score a hit.
“There’s no time to really prepare an action,” she said of her final push. “You just have to go for it and hope for the best.”
Losing by such a close margin felt bittersweet, she added. “Fencing on the podium strip at the Olympics, and I got to do it twice in this tournament, which is really cool. You can’t win them all. Japan’s a strong team.”
She’s at least 10 years older than her teammates and far more experienced, but she didn’t feel any extra pressure.
“I didn’t feel pressure because we always talked before the bout, just saying that we win as a team, we lose as a team. There’s no blame and that’s supertoxic for a team.”
The teenagers around her are also a sign of the talent that Canada has started to develop in the sport. “They’re really good,” she said of her teammates. “And they’re just going to keep getting stronger. And I think I will, too.”
She added: “I’m hoping that all of us stick around for the next while, especially after such a good experience together here.”