North Jersey native hopes to get another chance at elusive gold medal in summer Olympics
This summer, Maplewood's Jackie Dubrovich is hoping to take a second stab at an elusive Olympic gold medal.
The world's 11th-ranked female foil fencer, Dubrovich is fresh off earning a bronze medal at an International Fencing Federation World Cup event in Cairo. The event also resulted in the Team USA Women's Foil squad winning gold and qualifying for the 2024 games in Paris.
Still, for Dubrovich, more work remains to make the team and join New Jersey natives Carli Lloyd, Carl Lewis and Joetta Clark Diggs in competing in multiple Olympic games.
The opportunity to participate in the Paris games is not being taken lightly by Dubrovich. For more than a year, the 29-year-old Riverdale native has put her career as a marketing account strategist on hold to put her all into fencing. Dubrovich said she owed herself the chance to reach her full potential.
A Pompton Lakes High School graduate who was Columbia University's 2016 female athlete of the year, Dubrovich has been fencing for more than 20 years. She will be 30 this summer. Though several top female foil fencers are in their 30s, Dubrovich said she knows she is much closer to the end of her career than the beginning. The Paris games could be her last shot at an Olympic medal, she said.
"I knew that if I retired and never gave myself the chance to exclusively train, that I would regret it," she said. "I think work before was helpful in that it kind of created a distraction when things got too intense with fencing, [but] I've definitely seen tremendous growth in my fencing, and I don't regret the decision at all."
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Cairo was probably Dubrovich's best-ever competition, she said. Her confidence is high at a critical time. Still, she is not getting ahead of herself.
"I'm pretty superstitious," said Dubrovich, who always wears pearl earrings during competition. "So I don't really like to think too far ahead. Officially, we'll know by the end of April [who makes the team], but I've definitely put myself in a good position.
"I'm feeling good, but I also know that my teammates are also really incredible fencers and they're capable of achieving good results. too," she said.
Dubrovich is currently ranked 11th in the world by the International Fencing Federation, or FIE. She has three teammates ranked in the top 15, including the world's No. 1, reigning Olympic gold medalist Lee Kiefer. Three athletes will compete in the individual competition, and a fourth will go as an alternate who can participate in the team competition.
Kiefer, 29, has long been pushing Dubrovich to "fence harder, fence smarter," as both a teammate and a competitor, Dubrovich said. In Cairo, Dubrovich lost 15-13 to Kiefer in the semifinal round, narrowly missing out on her first FIE World Cup individual final. Kiefer, in turn, qualified for the team, leaving one fewer spot for Dubrovich and other aspiring members.
The internal competition within Team USA is keeping the pressure high in the run-up to Paris. Team selection points are still available at FIE World Cup and Grand Prix tournaments in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Washington, D.C., and at the USA Fencing April NAC/Division I Championships in Salt Lake City at the end of April.
By qualifying, Team USA Women's Foil joined Men’s Foil and Women’s Epee in confirming their places in Paris. The squad won three team golds across seven qualifying tournaments, including World Cup events in February 2024 and December 2023. The team will be seeded among the top four of the eight squads due to compete in Paris this summer.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ native Jackie Dubrovich hopes for another chance at Olympic gold
