Aug. 6, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - With three weeks left before the school year begins, St. John's fencing head coach Yury Gelman and fencer Dagmara Wozniak, a rising-sophomore, will be making one last summer vacation stop before classes start -- Beijing, China. Gelman and Woziak, along with former Red Storm alumnus Keeth Smart, will represent the Red Storm and the United States as part of the U.S. Fencing team at the 2008 Olympic Games. No stranger to the international stage, Gelman, head coach at St. John's since 1996, will be making his third appearance as Team USA's men's sabre coach after coaching the U.S. team at the Olympic Games in Sydney (2004) and Athens (2000). In three Olympic appearances, he has had the opportunity to coach six Red Storm fencing Olympians: Smart, Ivan Lee, Arlene Stevens, Jonathan Tiomkin, Wozniak and Olga Ovtchinnikova. He also cultivated a group of fencers who have won a team gold and two individual silver medals at the 2001 Junior and Cadet World Championships and had all four members of the 2002 men's sabre team as students. He has also worked closely with the Ukranian national team. Making her first appearance on the Olympic stage, Wozniak, a Avenel, N.J., native, took the 2007-08 season off from intercollegiate competition with the Red Storm to pursue Olympic qualification and help care for her mother who was diagnosed with cancer. After a tedious year of competition and world travel, Wozniak secured her spot on the U.S. team by finishing first in the women's sabre in Alger, Algeria. During her 2006-07 campaign with St. John's, Wozniak won the women's junior sabre World Cup in Frascati, Italy. By winning the World Cup she secured her spot as the world's No. 1 fencer in her age group. Wozniak received her first All-America honor in 2007 when she finished fifth in the sabre at the NCAA Championship. After the Olympics, Wozniak will return to compete for the Red Storm for the 2008-09 season.
Smart, a four year All-American and a 2000 St. John's graduate, was the first African-American fencer to be ranked No. 1 in the United States, when he reached that status in 2004. The Beijing Games marks his third Olympic appearance after participating in Athens and Sydney in 2000 and 2004, respectively. This year, Smart, a Flatbush Brooklyn, N.Y., native, aims to be the first U.S. male to win the Olympic gold in 24 years. He is currently ranked fifth in the world. However, Smart's three-peat Olympic dreams were almost put on hold when he contracted a rare blood disease, called ITP, while competing at the men's sabre Grand Prix in Alger, Algeria, in March. Although he finished 19th individually, the blood disorder caused him to stay under hospitalized care for two weeks, and could not compete for a period of two months. Smart has also been a popular face in the national media, as he has been featured in the pages of GQ and People magazine and has been interviewed on ABC with Peter Jennings, 60 Minutes and ESPN. His younger sister Erinn Smart, will also be in Beijing. She will making her third Olympic appearance as well as part of the women's team and the individual foil competition. For a schedule of events for both the men's and women's individual and team fencing competitions please visit www.usfencing.org. To follow NBC's live coverage of all the fencing action from Beijing, visit http://www.nbcolympics.com/fencing/index.html. Media Coverage of St. John's Olympic Fencers: |
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