Ruth White (fencer)

Ruth White
Personal information
Born (1951-07-16) July 16, 1951 (age 73)
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Sport
SportFencing
Medal record
Fencing
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1971 Cali Team
Silver medal – second place 1971 Cali Individual

Ruth White (born July 16, 1951) is an American doctor and retired foil fencer.

Life and career

White was born on July 16, 1951[1] in Baltimore, Maryland where she faced racial discrimination at school for being African-American.[2]

In 1969, White became the first African-American to win a US fencing championship. She also competed at the 1971 Pan American Games where she won a gold medal in the team foil event and silver medal in the individual foil event.[2]

She competed in fencing at New York University, coached by future Olympic coach Michel Sebastiani.[3] She fenced on his women's team that won the 1971 National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association championship, as she won all 27 of her bouts.[4][5] As Sebastiani confidently predicted she would to The New York Times – she went on to compete for Team USA at the 1972 Munich Olympics.[6]

She was the first African-American women to represent the US in fencing at the Olympics.[2] She competed in the women's individual and team foil events at the 1972 Munich Olympics.[7]

Soon after she competed at the Olympics, White left fencing to go into medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and went on to work in internal medicine.[2]

White was inducted into NYU's Hall of Fame in 1989, and into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame in 2001.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ruth WHITE - Olympic Fencing | United States of America". International Olympic Committee. June 12, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Henneman, Kristen (February 27, 2017). "Olympian Ruth White Found Freedom in Fencing". USA Fencing. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  3. ^ Bill Alden (June 14, 2006). "25-Year Passion Play Concludes for PU Fencing Coach Sebastiani," Town Topics.
  4. ^ "Women's Fencing," Princeton Tigers.
  5. ^ "NIWFA Team Champions," NIWFA.
  6. ^ "N.Y.U. Captures Women's Fencing," The New York Times, April 4, 1971.
  7. ^ "Ruth White Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2011.