ZAGUNIS Mariel

Personal Information

Family Daughter Sunday [2017]

Residence Portland, OR, USA

Occupation Athlete

Languages English

Higher education Anthropology - University of Notre Dame: United States

License number 03031985001

Club

Upcoming Events

Sport Specific Information

When and where did you begin this sport? She began fencing at age 10.

Why this sport? Her brother Marten was already fencing so she decided to try it too. "I remember being a tag-a-long kid and how hard it was to sit on the sidelines while he got to fence. I wanted to be doing what he was doing."

Club / Team Oregon Fencing Alliance: Portland, OR, USA

Handedness Left

General Interest

Most influential person in career Her parents. (usfencing.org, 20 Jun 2017)

Hero / Idol Italian fencer Valentina Vezzali. (nbcsports.com, 12 Dec 2014)

Superstitions / Rituals / Beliefs "Part of my superstition is not telling people about my superstitious routines." (aboutfacemag.com, 06 Jul 2015)

Sporting philosophy / motto "All you need is already inside." (Facebook page, 16 Aug 2018)

Awards and honours In 2013 she was inducted into the International Fencing Federation [FIE] Hall of Fame. (usfencing.org, 20 Jun 2017)

She was the United States of America's flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (nbcsports.com, 12 Dec 2014)

In 2010 she was named Athlete of the Decade by the University of Notre Dame in the United States of America. She also won the US Fencing Athlete of the Year award in the same year. (Facebook page, 12 Sep 2013; teamusa.org, 08 Jun 2012)

In 2009 she became the first fencer from the United States of America to receive the Chevalier Feyerick Trophy from the FIE. The award is given to the person or organisation that best represents sportsmanship and fair play as a role model for fencing's future. (usfencing.org, 18 Aug 2012)

Milestones Her victory in individual sabre at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens made her the first female fencer representing the United States of America to claim an Olympic gold medal, and the second US fencer to win Olympic gold after Albertson Van Zo Post's first gold for the United States of America at the 1904 Games. When she won gold in the same event four years later at the 2008 Games in Beijing, she became the first fencer representing the United States of America to win more than one Olympic gold medal. (usfencing.org, 20 Jun 2017; SportsDeskOnline, 22 Jun 2018)

She was the first fencer representing the United States of America to win more than two world championship gold medals [individual or team] when she claimed her third world title in 2009. She went on to become the first fencer representing the United States of America to win four [2010] and five [2014] world titles, and was also the first US fencer to win more than one individual world title, when she claimed back-to-back gold medals in 2009 and 2010 in individual sabre. (SportsDeskOnline, 19 Jun 2019)

At the 2015 Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile, she became the first fencer from any nation to win six individual Pan American titles. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Jun 2019)

Famous relatives Her parents Robert and Cathy both rowed for the US team at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Cathy has also worked as the programme director of the Oregon Fencing Alliance [OFA]. Her brother Marten fenced at Penn State University in the United States of America between 2003 and 2006. Her other brother Merrick has also competed in fencing at an elite level. (bleacherreport.com, 27 Jul 2012; chicagotribune.com, 30 Jun 2012)

Other information NO STOPPING YET
She returned to fencing in 2018 following a break to give birth to her daughter. "I like to think that I'm changing the paradigm. In the US, [the thinking was that] you could only fence through college. There was no such thing as being a professional. Once you hit your mid to late twenties, it wasn't feasible to be a professional fencer, especially if you have a baby. I'm changing all of that. I don't think there is a limit to how old you can be. I'm not focused on making history, but I want to win more Olympic medals." In 2021 she said that she was still considering whether to aim for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. "I was just trying to keep my thoughts focused on Tokyo [2020 Olympic Games], but I'm not ruling out Paris, especially knowing that again, what I've been through the past five years. To feel the way I did out there [at the 2020 Olympic Games] really gives me good confidence going forward. I didn't want it to be over. It was over too soon because I feel like I have more in the tank." (pamplinmedia.com, 05 Jul 2018; usafencing.org, 27 Jul 2021)

MATERNITY BREAK
She took a year off fencing to give birth to her daughter, Sunday, in October 2017. She returned to competition in 2018 at the Grand Prix event in Seoul, Republic of Korea. "The extended break helped. There aren't enough hours in the day to train like I used to, but maybe at my age, and at this time in my life, it's a blessing in disguise, because I feel fantastic. I wanted her [Sunday] to have a unique name, so she wouldn't be one of those kids who has six classmates with the same name. My husband wouldn't let me get too weird with it. It had to be unique, but not weird. I heard the name and thought, 'Sunday, that's perfect'." (pamplinmedia.com, 05 Jul 2018)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
In August 2017 she became a member of the athletes' commission of the International Fencing Federation [FIE]. She also featured in one episode of the US television show 'Chopped' in 2017, where celebrity contestants compete in cooking challenges. (fie.org, 04 Aug 2017; Facebook page, 05 Apr 2017; imdb.com, 2017)