Sada Jacobson

Sada Molly Jacobson-Bâby (born February 14, 1983 in Rochester , Minnesota ) is an American fencer .

Jacobson grew up in a family of saber-fencers . Her father, David Jacobson, was a member of the US national fencing team in 1974. Her younger sister Emily is a two-time junior world champion.

Sada Jacobson only started fencing herself at the age of 15. However, her coach Arkady Burdan , who fled the Soviet Union in 1989 , quickly led her to the top of the world.

At her first World Cup in Budapest in 2000 , she contributed to the title win of the US national team. In the individual competition, Jacobson started for the first time in 2001 at the World Championships in Nîmes and was twelfth straight away. In 2002 she won fifth place at the World Championships in Lisbon . She achieved this rank in the following year at the World Championships in Havana .

In 2003 Jacobson moved up to number 1 in the FIE world rankings after winning a World Cup event in New York . No American female fencer had achieved this before.

In 2004 Jacobson qualified for the Summer Olympics in Athens . In the individual competition she won a bronze medal on August 17, 2004. In the battle for 3rd place she won against the Romanian Cătălina Gheorghițoaia with 15: 7. Previously Jacobson was in the semifinals with 12:15 inferior to the later silver medalist Tan Xue .

Jacobson is currently studying at Yale University . In preparation for the Olympic Games, she interrupted her studies for three semesters.

In 2008 she took part again in the Olympic Games and won a silver and a bronze medal in Beijing .

Web links

• Sada Jacobson in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )