HARVEY Eleanor

Personal Information

Occupation Athlete

Languages English

Higher education Film Studies, Psychology - Ohio State University: Columbus, OH, USA

License number 14011995000

Club

Upcoming Events

Sport Specific Information

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

Why this sport? "Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to go to the Olympics. So, first it was for running, and then I tried karate. A friend recommended fencing because we used to sword fight in the backyard. I went to my first practice, and I beat this kid who had been fencing for a year. I was so competitive that it was enough to keep me going."

Name of coach Alex Martin [national], CAN

Training Regime She trains at the Canadian Sport Institute in Calgary, AB, Canada.

Handedness Left

General Interest

Nicknames E (olympic.ca, 23 Jul 2021)

Hobbies Spending time with friends, eating international cuisine, visiting coffee shops, yoga, drawing. (olympic.ca, 23 Jul 2021)

Most influential person in career Her parents. (buckeyextra.dispatch.com, 06 Nov 2015)

Hero / Idol Canadian fencer Sherraine Schalm. (olympic.ca, 23 Jul 2021)

Injuries In 2022 she developed a tendinosis and tuberosity injury in her leg due to excessive yoga. (thespec.com, 04 Jan 2023)

In November 2019 she broke her wrist and was ruled out for two-and-a-half months. (thespec.com, 25 Mar 2020)

Sporting philosophy / motto "I'm definitely more defensive. I like to get a feel for people's styles, so that takes a while. If you're rushing at them it's harder to get a feel for what they would do in different situations." (buckeyextra.dispatch.com, 06 Nov 2015)

Awards and honours In 2022 she received the Murphy Family Award from the Canadian Olympic Foundation. (olympic.ca, 09 Dec 2022)

In 2018 she was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Canadian Fencing Federation [CFF]. (Facebook page, 19 May 2018)

She was named the 2014 Canadian Junior Fencer of the Year. (900chml.com, 26 Feb 2015)

She has been inducted into the Toronto Fencing Club Hall of Fame in Ontario, Canada. (awwca.ca, 18 Dec 2011)

Milestones She became the first female fencer representing Canada to finish on the podium in foil at a grand prix by placing third at the 2018 event in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. (SportsDeskOnline, 09 Jul 2018; fencing.ca, 22 May 2018)

Famous relatives Her parents Ken Harvey and Lise Graydon have both taken part in Ironman triathlons, while her grandfather competed in athletics at Michigan State University in the United States of America. She is also a distant relative of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh through her great aunt, who is Van Gogh's great, great niece. (Instagram profile, 06 Mar 2022; thespec.com, 05 Jul 2021; olympic.ca, 22 Aug 2016; ohiostatebuckeyes.com, 08 Apr 2015)

Ambitions To compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (Brandon's Sports Talk podcast, 07 Jan 2022)

Other information RETIREMENT THOUGHTS
She lost her focus due to not having good results after qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and thought of retiring from fencing after the Games. She credited her compatriot Kelleigh Ryan and Ryan's husband Alex Martin for encouraging her to continue. "Before the pandemic started, I was definitely planning to stop, retire from fencing after the Olympics, because way before all the shutdown and the Olympics were delayed for a year, we had qualified for the Olympics as a team. I was like, 'OK, awesome', that was like always my goal. After that, honestly I just wasn't really having much joy, I don't know, I had like blind commitment to fencing, I wasn't really happy doing it. Eventually after a couple of months of lockdown we started travelling and having training camps together. I was in Toronto and my teammates were in Calgary, and so we came to Calgary for a couple of camps. The first camp, I could hardly even fence because I just wasn't enjoying fencing very much. And then Kelleigh and Alex decided to ask if I want to do a lesson with Alex, and from the moment of the first lesson, that's like a turning point in my life. I had so much fun in the lesson, and I learned so much, and I was able to see fencing with a completely fresh set of eyes. Then eventually I decided to move [from Hamilton, Ontario] to Calgary to train full-time, and not even consider quitting anytime soon." (cbc.ca, 28 Jun 2022)

BUSINESS OWNER
In October 2020 she launched Lennygarb, a clothing company featuring her own designs on Canadian-made and up-cycled pieces of clothing. She has also worked as a coach at the Toronto Fencing Centre in Ontario, Canada. (Lennygarb Instagram profile, 11 Aug 2021; olympic.ca, 23 Jul 2021; Facebook profile, 08 Oct 2020; LinkedIn profile, 01 Sep 2020)

VEGAN DIET
She began eating a vegan diet at age 12. Her fencing coach at the time required her to submit blood work to prove she was getting the nutrients necessary to train and compete. "I feel like if anything [a vegan diet] helps me because you have to be super aware all the time of what you're eating, you can't just pig out on a random thing placed in front of you. I think that's a good way to be if you're vegan or not. Better still, on this diet I always found I had more energy." (thelantern.com, 25 Oct 2017)