Direct Elimination Podcast
- Episodes
- 50
- Released
- weekly
- Latest episode
- Nov 2, 2026
About the podcast
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
The world of elite fencing's most relatable duo — Ari Simmons and Stephen Ewart of Team USA — team up to provide next-level access to life as a fencer as it unfolds. The two teammates drop insights about their journeys to qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. They also endlessly rag on each other as friends do, chat about their sport and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them.
Topics they explore:
The mindset of world-class athletes
Failure, resilience, and comeback stories
NCAA & Olympic fencing insights
The role of social media, culture, and community in sports
Why athletes do what they do — and what keeps them fighting
Subscribe for episodes that deliver real talk, laughs, and lessons — straight from the fencing strip to your headphones.
Contributors
Episodes 50
Fencing Legend Mariel Zagunis Discusses Brutal Honesty, Disappointment, Motivation and Inspiring the Next Generation | The Will to Win Ep. 8
She was the first Women's Saber Olympic Champion ever. She carried the US flag at London 2012, then lost when it mattered most. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis holds nothing back.The Fencing …
Show notes
She was the first Women's Saber Olympic Champion ever. She carried the US flag at London 2012, then lost when it mattered most. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis holds nothing back.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Mariel calls the London 2012 semifinal the most monumental failure of her career, and what she did with that failure afterward
• The brutal truth about what the system of amateur sport did to her ranking, stipend, and career the moment she became a mother
• The discipline-over-motivation framework she now teaches the next generation of US women's saber fencers
• Why she has never officially retired, and what the one Olympic goal still unchecked on her list is
Mariel Zagunis is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008), a Pan American Games champion, and one of the most decorated fencers in US history. She served as Team USA's flag bearer at the 2012 London Olympics and has been a defining figure in women's saber since the discipline's Olympic debut.
This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
Have you ever had a moment where the pressure of the occasion completely overtook your preparation? Drop it in the comments below.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:01:20 - Early Success and Being a Trailblazer
00:03:52 - When Fencing Stopped Being Fun
00:05:59 - Pressure, the Flag, and London 2012
00:08:22 - The Most Monumental Failure of Her Career
00:09:27 - How Goals Evolved After the Loss
00:12:23 - Becoming a Mother and Feeling Punished by the Sport
00:15:41 - Three Hours of Sleep and Starting From Scratch
00:19:08 - Trial and Error: Training Smarter Not Harder
00:20:45 - Brutal Honesty, Self-Doubt, and Preparation
00:25:33 - Calling Out Ari
00:26:56 - The Warrior Mindset: What Still Drives Her
00:31:02 - Legacy and Passing the Torch
00:34:55 - Returning to Give Back: Mentoring the Next Generation
00:38:04 - Rapid Fire Questions
💬 BEST QUOTES
"when your motivation is lacking. That's where the discipline steps in." [00:04:29]
"I put my equipment on and I feel like a warrior, like literally going off to war. Any person who's in my path doesn't matter. I just am going to do my best to win. I want to win." [00:28:03]
"I'm constantly imagining that my opponent is doing more. And so I'm like, if they're doing more, I got to go the extra mile" [00:23:51]
"The will to win is inside of you." [00:37:40]
🔗 CONNECT WITH MARIEL
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariel.zagunis/
🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/
🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_USThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Ryan Choi, Hong Kong Fencing World Champion, Almost Walked Away from the Sport Months Before Making History | The Will to Win Ep. 7
Months before winning the World Championship, Ryan Choi walked up to his coach and said he wanted to stop. What happened next changed everything.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode …
Show notes
Months before winning the World Championship, Ryan Choi walked up to his coach and said he wanted to stop. What happened next changed everything.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why winning the Asian Cadet Championship at 14 planted the seeds of both ambition and identity-threatening pressure, and how that dynamic quietly shaped Ryan Choi's career
• How three years of sacrifice aimed at Paris ended without an Olympic spot, and what it felt like to contribute to a historic team result that still wasn't enough for Ryan personally
• The exact moment in Vancouver when Ryan told his coach he was done, and his coach's response that unexpectedly moved him and turned the entire season around
• Why self-forgiveness, not discipline or strategy, was the real turning point behind three consecutive wins and a World Championship title
Ryan Choi is a fencing world champion in foil and Hong Kong's highest-ranked fencer. Competing on the senior international circuit since his teens, he has represented Hong Kong at the World Championships, Olympic Games and across the FIE World Cup circuit, reaching world number one while openly describing himself as anything but a standard athlete.
This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
Here's a question for the comments: Ryan says the will to win is accepting that you can lose. Do you think that kind of acceptance makes elite athletes stronger — or does it risk taking the edge off?
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro: World Champion Who Almost Quit
00:01:33 - Ryan's First International Win at 14
00:03:31 - Youth Olympics Silver and the Moment He Believed He Could Be the Best
00:04:33 - Three Years Chasing Paris
00:06:49 - First-Round Exits and Lost Direction
00:07:42 - Vancouver: The Breaking Point
00:09:09 - What his Coach Said That Changed Everything
00:10:10 - Three Wins in a Row Including the World Championship
00:12:58 - The Role of Self-Forgiveness in the Comeback
00:16:21 - Dealing with the Home Loss at Worlds in Hong Kong
00:20:27 - What Being Number One in the World Feels Like
00:23:19 - The Pressure of Being a Public Athlete in Hong Kong
00:24:59 - Rapid Fire Questions
00:28:03 - Closing
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I think mainly it's because I forgave myself at the hardest moment of my life."
"If you are heartbroken or you feel very sad about what you're doing, try to resist a little bit more. Just one more moment."
"The will to win is accepting that you can lose."
"I started to have the the mindset that maybe I'm one of the strongest now. And actually at that moment there's more pressure because I started to be greedy."
🔗 CONNECT WITH RYAN
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanchoiiiii/
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanChoiOfficial
🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/
🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_USThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/World and Olympic Champion Gergely Siklósi Discusses Koki Kano Rivalry and Setting Himself Up for Success | The Will to Win Ep. 6
He won the World Championship 6 months after hand surgery, then went on to become an Olympic medalist and one of the most dominant fencers of his generation. Gergely Siklósi on the mindset that changed …
Show notes
He won the World Championship 6 months after hand surgery, then went on to become an Olympic medalist and one of the most dominant fencers of his generation. Gergely Siklósi on the mindset that changed everything.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Siklósi went from being cut from the Hungarian team to World Champion in under a year and the hand injury that forced the mental shift to make it possible
• The mantra he repeats before Olympic bouts to make winning matter less, and why deliberately devaluing the result is what frees him to perform at his best
• Why he was sitting nearly asleep in the Tokyo ready room while every other finalist was hyped up, and why he believes that was the correct call
• His honest assessment of his Koki Kano rivalry, why he is at peace saying Kano is ahead, and what he is still chasing at LA 2028
Gergely Siklósi is a Hungarian épée fencer, 2019 World Champion, Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist, and Paris 2024 Olympic Champion in teams. He is one of the most analytically honest voices in elite fencing on the mental side of the sport.
After listening: what is the one thing Siklósi said that most challenges how you think about competing or how you think about wanting to win? Drop it in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction: Who Is Gergely Siklósi?
00:01:48 - The Friendship and Watching Siklósi’s Success
00:04:24 - The Hand Injury, Surgery, and Recovery
00:05:23 - Rediscovering Joy: How Less Became More
00:07:43 - Quality vs. Quantity - The Training Lesson That Changed Everything
00:09:00 - The 2019 World Championship Final: Down 10-13
00:10:54 - Trusting Your Training: Fencing Without Thinking
00:14:49 - Making Winning Matter Less
00:15:35 - Tokyo Olympics
00:19:35 - The Silver Medal That Haunted Him for 18 Months
00:23:01 - Paris 2024 and the One-Touch Team Final
00:25:34 - The Koki Kano Rivalry: Respect, Honesty, and the War Not Over
00:27:05 - The Goal He Is Willing to Say Out Loud: LA 2028
00:32:26 - Rapid Fire
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I was training so hard and it turns out quantity is not better than quality training." [00:04:10]
"I felt like I found the joy of fencing, because till then, I was training for success.I wanted to win, I was fighting for it. And then I realized that less can be more." [00:05:23]
"My family loves me, my friends love me and I have a good life, and losing here is not going to change that. Winning, winning here, it's not going to change that. So I make the winning less serious, less rewarding." [00:15:03]
"The will to win is reachable. I think, especially in fencing, anyone can get there." [00:35:38]🔗 CONNECT WITH GERGELY
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siklosigergo/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gergosiklosi🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/
🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_USThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Canada's First Olympic Fencing Medalist Eleanor Harvey Talks Mentality, Pressure and Dealing with Success| The Will to Win Ep. 5
Eleanor Harvey, Canada’s first Olympic Fencing medalist, gets deep about the emotional dysregulation she felt following the Paris Games, how she sets herself up for success, and what the will to win looks like …
Show notes
Eleanor Harvey, Canada’s first Olympic Fencing medalist, gets deep about the emotional dysregulation she felt following the Paris Games, how she sets herself up for success, and what the will to win looks like in one of the sport’s top athletes.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Eleanor deliberately kills her own ego before every tournament and why she believes that mental reflex is the reason she wins
• The unexpected emotional crash after achieving a lifelong dream: two weeks as 'a shell of a human' that nobody talks about
• How food poisoning, grief, and COVID accidentally unlocked Eleanor's best fencing, and what that reveals about pressure and performance
• Why the losses that haunt elite athletes aren't the ones they were outskilled in, but the ones where the fight simply wasn't there
Eleanor Harvey is one of Canada's most decorated athletes, a senior World Cup winner, and the athlete at the center of Canada's historic rise in women's foil. She's also one of the most psychologically honest competitors you'll hear in any sport.
This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
💬 What's a moment in your own sport (or life) where zero expectations actually set you free? Drop it in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introducing Eleanor Harvey
00:01:17 - Being the Favorite: The Target on Your Back
00:02:04 - The Superstition of Never Expecting to Win
00:04:23 - Yoga, Mindfulness & Staying Present Under Pressure
00:05:16 - Two Weeks as a Shell: Life After the Olympic Medal
00:06:59 - Returning to Training & Feeling Like You Suck Again
00:08:47 - How Chaos and Low Expectations Unlock Your Best Fencing
00:09:52 - Who You Are Off the Strip Is Who You Are On It
00:11:04 - Canada's Rise
00:15:59 - Fourth Place at the Olympics & Getting Cyber Bullied in France
00:18:23 - One Touch Situations: The Will to Win vs. Being Weak
00:20:04 - The Best Feeling in Fencing: Manifesting a Touch
00:21:44 - Advice to a Younger Eleanor: There Is No Secret Ingredient
00:25:40 - The Man Who Criticized Her Footwork After the Olympics
00:27:22 - Rapid Fire
💬 BEST QUOTES
"in the next like two weeks after winning the medal, I was almost like the shell of a human. I was so overwhelmed and it was so hard to process what had happened, because that had always been my dream."
"the losses that hurt the most are the ones where you just lost because you were just your will wasn't as strong as the other person."
"you actually don't have any control over the result at all. By the time you get to the tournament, you just have to go fence, and what is going to happen is already going to happen."
🔗 CONNECT WITH ELEANOR
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eleamorgue/
🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/
🎵 Music Credits: Antidepresseur by Patchworker f.k.a. [friendzoned] | https://soundcloud.com/patchworker
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_USThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Sabre Olympian Kaito Streets on Learning from Losses and Chasing Greatness | The Will to Win Ep. 4
Kaito Streets left Team USA to fence for Japan, where he has both missed and qualified for Olympic Games in the last 10 years. Through the ups, downs, wins and almosts of his career, Kaito's resilience …
Show notes
Kaito Streets left Team USA to fence for Japan, where he has both missed and qualified for Olympic Games in the last 10 years. Through the ups, downs, wins and almosts of his career, Kaito's resilience speaks for itself.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Kaito switched from representing the US to Japan, and what it meant to him in pride, perception, and belonging between two cultures
• What it actually feels like to stand on the Olympic strip: the shaking, the fear, the joy, and why Kaito says he'll never feel anything like it again
• How Kaito nearly retired after Tokyo, nearly retired again after missing Paris, and what finally convinced him to chase LA 2028
• The 'win or learn' philosophy behind starting the Tokyo International Fencing Academy, and why Kaito says keeping elite knowledge to himself would be selfish
Kaito Streets is an American-Japanese Olympian who competed for Japan at the Tokyo 2020 Games and is a founding coach of the Tokyo International Fencing Academy. He is one of the more recognizable faces growing fencing internationally through competition, content creation, and coaching.This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
💬 Have you ever had to choose between two identities, in sport, work, or life? Drop your take in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:15 - Comedy, Content Creation & Athlete Persona
00:06:09 - The Switch: Why He Left Team USA for Japan
00:10:02 - Adapting to Japanese Culture and Earning His Spot
00:11:54 - Tokyo Olympics: Pure Human Emotion on the Strip
00:16:47 - COVID, Family Absent & Nearly Retiring After Tokyo
00:18:35 - Missing Paris & Considering Retirement Again at 30
00:19:22 - Why He Chose to Come Back for LA 2028
00:20:16 - The Only Real Way to Fail
00:21:25 - The World Championship Bronze Medal Match
00:25:07 - Win or Learn: The Mindset That Keeps Him Going
00:27:10 - Starting the Tokyo International Fencing Academy
00:28:43 - Teaching as a Renewal of Passion
00:32:49 - Growing Fencing Into a Mainstream Sport
00:35:58 - Rapid Fire & Closing Thoughts
💬 BEST QUOTES
"When I got to the Olympics, I've never felt emotion like that before. I was, nervous, scared, happy, like everything you could think of in one." [00:13:08]
"I think you learn the most in your losses." [00:26:01]
"The will to win is learned after a loss." [00:38:53]🔗 CONNECT WITH KAITO
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaitostreets/?hl=en
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ @kaitocstreets
CONNECT WITH TOKYO INTERNATIONAL FENCING ACADEMY
🌐: https://tifa-fencing.jp/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tokyointlfencingacademy/🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Olympic Bronze Medalist and World #1 Mohamed Elsayed: Trusting Yourself When It Counts Most | The Will to Win Ep. 3
How powerful is manifestation? In Paris 2024, Mohamed Elsayed won bronze, and then finally opened a video that he recorded on his phone in 2021.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode …
Show notes
How powerful is manifestation? In Paris 2024, Mohamed Elsayed won bronze, and then finally opened a video that he recorded on his phone in 2021.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Mohamed Elsayed turned years of one-touch losses in quarterfinals into the exact skills that won him an Olympic medal, and why he says he didn't know those losses were building something the whole time.
• The multi-year promise: why Mo recorded a message to himself as an anonymous spectator at Tokyo 2021, never re-watched it, and what happened when he finally opened it the day after Paris.
• What "just be yourself" actually means at the Olympic level, Mo's take on full preparation followed by total self-trust, and why that's the opposite of laziness.
• How to mentally move on from a devastating loss: Mo's framework for processing failure, detaching from results, and showing up ready two weeks later.
Mohamed Elsayed is an Egyptian Olympic bronze medalist in épée fencing from the Paris 2024 Games, one of only two Egyptian Olympic fencing medalists, and a fencer who has built his career on mastering the one-touch moment under maximum pressure.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction: Who Is Mohamed Elsayed
00:01:34 - The Art of the One-Touch Moment
00:03:32 - Trusting Yourself When It Counts Most
00:06:03 - There Is Always a Comeback
00:08:47 - The Video Promise: Tokyo 2021 to Paris 2024
00:11:53 - Goal Setting, Wish Lists, and Becoming a Legend
00:14:10 - How to Respond to Devastating Loss
00:17:09 - Learning to Move On
00:21:13 - Dealing With the Pressure of Expectations
00:25:44 - What 'Just Be Yourself' Actually Means
00:27:35 - Trusting Yourself When Everything Works Against You
00:29:57 - Flow State: What Freedom Feels Like on the Strip
00:32:41 - Living the Dream From the Inside Out
00:35:26 - Rapid Fire: Peace, Poker Face, and Who Mo Is Off the Strip
00:37:27 - Closing
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I didn't know that every touch I lost was building up to a greater moment." [00:02:52]
"I think it was just, a pure moment of me promising myself…I'm talking to my future self about me being there, and, I just have to wait." [00:10:03]
"The will to win is yours." [00:37:32]🔗 CONNECT WITH MO
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_supermooo/
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamsupermooo
🔗 CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4G1LSu4ubtqTUH17nfFs0f
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@DirectElimination
🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Hong Kong Fencer Kaylin Hsieh on Winning Gold, Fear of Losing, and the Olympic Question | The Will to Win Ep. 2
Kaylin Hsieh won her first Grand Prix gold sick, alone, and with nothing to lose, and came to share some of the ups and downs of her professional athletic career. The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In …
Show notes
Kaylin Hsieh won her first Grand Prix gold sick, alone, and with nothing to lose, and came to share some of the ups and downs of her professional athletic career.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Kaylin used illness at the Doha Grand Prix to strip away pressure and fence with complete freedom, and why that mindset produced her best result
• Why she deliberately documents wins and losses publicly, and the deeper reason elite athletes staying silent is a disservice to the next generation
• What it actually feels like to abandon your entire fencing identity and rebuild from zero under a new coaching system, and how that process led to a breakthrough
• How she answered the hardest question in elite Olympic sport: is it all worth it if there's no Olympic medal at the end?
Kaylin Hsieh is a Hong Kong national team fencer, U17 World Champion, Grand Prix gold medalist, and NCAA champion who has represented Hong Kong for years on the international stage while navigating the pressure of elite competition Olympic qualification. She is one of the most transparent voices in fencing today.
This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction: Who Is Kaylin Hsieh?
00:01:23 - The Doha Grand Prix
00:03:41 - What Being Sick Taught Her About Acceptance
00:06:21 - How Experience Compounds and The Process Mindset
00:08:35 - What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?
00:11:03 - Transparency in Elite Sport
00:13:38 - Finding Joy as the Key to Winning
00:16:50 - Is It All Worth It If There's No Olympic Medal?
00:17:13 - The Moment That Changed Everything
00:18:37 - Coming Back to Hong Kong
00:22:16 - Grieving the Conventional Life She Didn't Live
00:24:36 - The Fear She's Never Talked About in an Interview
00:25:15 - Learning to Let Go of Her Old Self
00:28:56 - Rapid Fire
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I knew that I may not be able to perform at my best, but I knew that I could overcome this."
"I had to let go of who I was and to become someone that I haven't been before."
"Even if I fail, I get to show others that it's okay to go for your dreams."
"My biggest fear was just just losing. But like it's normal... if you don't lose, how would you win?"
"The will to win comes within you."
🔗 CONNECT WITH KAYLIN
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylinhsieh/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kaylinhsieh
🤝 LinkedIn: https://hk.linkedin.com/in/kaylinhsieh
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ @kaylinhsieh
🔗 CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4G1LSu4ubtqTUH17nfFs0f
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@DirectElimination
🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Pentathlon Olympian and World Champion turned NCAA Fencing Head Coach at Duke: Omar Elgeziry | Direct Elimination Ep. 35
Duke Fencing Head Coach Omar Elgeziry on why there's no luck in college fencing, and the meditation secret behind every Duke practice.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode …
Show notes
Duke Fencing Head Coach Omar Elgeziry on why there's no luck in college fencing, and the meditation secret behind every Duke practice.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Omar believes college fencing structurally eliminates luck, and how the round-robin format changes everything an international fencer thinks they know
• The guided visualization and meditation sessions Omar runs at the start and end of every Duke practice, and why he keeps doing it even when athletes fall asleep
• Genuinely contrarian college recruiting advice: why Omar tells athletes to ignore big names and championships and choose the school that makes them grow as a person
• How Stanford joining the ACC and the men's and women's championship split are reshaping the competitive landscape of NCAA fencing
Omar Elgeziry is an Olympian and World Champion modern pentathlete, fencer, and current head fencing coach at Duke University. He is also one of the few coaches in the country who has led programs across three different NCAA regions.
If you're a high school fencer or a fencing parent navigating the recruiting process, drop your biggest question below — Omar's answer at 00:09:48 might change how you're thinking about your search.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:21 - Who Is Omar Elgeziry?
00:03:00 - From Olympic Pentathlete to College Fencing Coach
00:05:22 - Why College Fencing Has No Luck
00:06:23 - Growing Fencing in the NCAA
00:09:08 - What Makes Duke Fencing Different?
00:09:48 - Real College Recruiting Advice
00:13:02 - NCAA Changes: Stanford to ACC, Men's & Women's Split
00:15:14 - The Most Important Quality in a College Fencer
00:19:01 - Visualization & Meditation: Omar's Secret Coaching Weapon
00:24:48 - One-Light Answers
00:29:06 - Outro
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I came to this country because I was following my guts. I just wanted to live the American dream." [00:03:04]
"There is no there's no luck in college fencing." [00:05:24]
"Go for the school that will make you grow. Don't just go for a school that's a big name, or that will win a championship, or it's just going to be easy for you to win. Just challenge yourself." [00:10:51]
"If you see it, [and] you make it happen in your mind. It actually will happen in reality." [00:21:45]
Theme Song Written and Performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en
🔗 Connect with Omar Elgeziry
🌐: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-elgeziry-oly-98a65b12b
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omarelgeziry/
🔗 Connect with Duke Fencing
🌐: https://goduke.com/sports/fencing
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dukefen/Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Áron Szilágyi: Back-to-Back-to-Back Olympic Champion Who Says Losing at Paris Olympics Was Actually Liberating | The Will to Win Ep. 1
3× Individual Olympic champion Áron Szilágyi on the Achilles injury that changed everything and why losing at Paris felt like freedom.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode, you'll …
Show notes
3× Individual Olympic champion Áron Szilágyi on the Achilles injury that changed everything and why losing at Paris felt like freedom.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• What Szilágyi is looking forward to in his upcoming competitions and seasons
• How his first career injury forced him to rebuild his identity around small wins like walking and footwork, not gold medals
• What it felt like to finally lose at the Olympics, and why 'liberating' is the word he chose
• The one sentence that defines his entire competitive philosophy: what the will to win actually means when the desire runs out
Áron Szilágyi is the only sabre fencer in history to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals (London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020). He is a three-time World Champion, a six-time European Champion, and also the recipient of the FIE Fair Play Award.This podcast was produced in collaboration with the International Fencing Federation (FIE).
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Introduction
01:31 - First Career Injury: Achilles Surgery
04:03 - The Mental Side of Rehab
05:07 - Preparing for the Body You No Longer Know
07:50 - Mindset Going Into Worlds
13:00 - Paris 2024: Inside the One-Minute Break
15:32 - What Losing at the Olympics Actually Taught Him
17:00 - Processing Failure as a Team
22:25 - Which Olympic Gold Felt Most Impossible
24:18 - The Fair Play Award
29:00 - Rapid Fire
33:53 - Closing and Where to Follow Áron
💬 QUOTES
"Every day, every morning I had to choose to do this. So I had to talk myself into going to the physio, doing the work and getting better."
"I learned much more [from this loss] than from the Olympic titles I won. And that’s always true with failures, I guess."
"After I accepted it, it was a liberating feeling that I don't have to be the person, you know, who wins the Olympic Games. No, I've been to an Olympics where I was beaten, and that's fine. That's good actually."
"I had this kind of imposter syndrome after London that I felt like I shouldn't have won this because I'm not Olympic Champion material."
"The will to win is to be able to do what's necessary."
🔗 CONNECT WITH ÁRON
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/szilagyi_aron/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aronszilagyi_official
🤝 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/szilagyi-aron/
🔗 CONNECT WITH THE FIE
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencing_fie/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fie_fencing
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJEy8aBnqDymMIcJCh72gMw
🌐: https://fie.org/Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/USA Fencing CEO Phil Andrews on Growing Fencing in America: NCAA Programs, Marketing Push & the Road to LA 2028 | Direct Elimination Ep. 34
USA Fencing's CEO, Phil Andrews, reveals influencer and K-pop deals, a sport-saving radio campaign & what the sport's growth strategy is as we approach the LA 2028 Olympic Games. This episode will …
Show notes
USA Fencing's CEO, Phil Andrews, reveals influencer and K-pop deals, a sport-saving radio campaign & what the sport's growth strategy is as we approach the LA 2028 Olympic Games. This episode will surprise you.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How USA Fencing became the ninth most mentioned brand on US radio in December (the only sport ever to achieve it) and why that matters more than Paris 2024 medal counts for long-term growth
• The full celebrity and influencer strategy targeting LA 2028: from the Gardiner Brothers and Dolph Lundgren to Jenson Button and a K-pop activation designed to open fencing to entirely new audiences
• Why the NCAA pipeline is central to USA Fencing's future, including new programs at Trinity College, HBCU outreach, and how membership growth is directly funding more athletes — including para fencing for the first time
• What Phil Andrews actually walked into when he became CEO in 2022, and how a British ice hockey player ended up leading one of America's most storied Olympic sports federations
Phil Andrews has served as CEO of USA Fencing since 2022, previously leading USA Weightlifting. He is one of the most unconventional and candid executives in American Olympic sport.
💬 What would it take for YOU to bring a friend to try fencing? Drop your answer below — Phil's actually thinking about this.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro & Welcome to the New York Athletic Club
00:01:06 - US Fencing Foundation Gala
00:03:02 - Phil Andrews' Background: From London 2012 to USA Fencing CEO
00:05:10 - Stabilizing USA Fencing: Challenges Inherited in 2022
00:08:14 - USA Fencing's Mission to Grow & Popularize the Sport
00:09:08 - iHeartMedia Deal & Radio Campaign Impact
00:11:30 - Celebrity & Influencer Activations: Gardiner Brothers, Dolph Lundgren, Jenson Button
00:13:59 - Community Outreach
00:19:06 - Lowering the Barrier: How Fast Can Someone Try Fencing?
00:20:38 - Paris 2024 Results vs. iHeartMedia Campaign Reach
00:22:44 - NCAA Pipeline, HBCU Outreach & Trinity College Announcement
00:24:19 - Athlete Funding Growth Across Weapons & Para Fencing
00:25:56 - US Fencing's Rising International Competitive Results
00:30:15 - One Light Answers
00:35:05 - Closing Remarks
💬 BEST QUOTES
"Fencing is not well enough respected in the circles that it should be. I think that's something that we're hoping to change between now. I think we've started to change it, and I think it's something we're hoping to change between now and 2028."
"If 4 or 5 people from that [collaboration] go 'that looks cool, I want to go and try some fencing.' That is success."
"[Fencing was] the ninth most mentioned brand on the US radio during December of last year, the only sport ever to have achieved that."
"I like being the dumbest human in the room. Great news in fencing is I'm usually dumbest person in the room."Theme Song Written and Performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en🔗 Connect with Phil Andrews
🌐: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philandrews2
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a.phil/?hl=en🔗 Connect with USA Fencing
🌐: https://www.usafencing.org/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usafencing/Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Jerry Simmons on How to Raise a World Champion Fencer | Direct Elimination: Special Father's Day Edition
What does it actually take to raise a World Champion fencer? Jerry Simmons reveals the parenting philosophy no one talks about.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode, you'll discover:• …
Show notes
What does it actually take to raise a World Champion fencer? Jerry Simmons reveals the parenting philosophy no one talks about.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Jerry and his wife never pressured their children about results, rankings, or college scholarships — and how that restraint became the foundation of their success
• The hotel room meditation lesson in France that Jerry taught a 15-year-old Ari the week of competition, and what happened to his fencing immediately after
• The exact moment Jerry realized fencing was no longer a hobby — and why he went all-in financially and logistically without looking back
• What sleep science actually says about athlete recovery, reaction time, and how to manage circadian rhythm during international travel
Jerry Simmons is the father of 2 former NCAA Division 1 Fencers, Camille Simmons (Episode 11) and our Co-Host Ari Simmons (Cadet World Champion, 4x NCAA All-American, USA World Team Member and more), and a physician whose background in sleep science gives him a uniquely grounded perspective on youth athletic development. He joins the show to offer an honest, experience-tested look at what elite youth sport support actually demands — and costs — from a family.
💬 What's the hardest part of being a fencing parent? Drop your answer below — we read every comment.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:03 - How Ari Got Into Fencing: The Origin Story
00:05:18 - Jerry's Six Months as a Fencer
00:08:17 - The All-In Moment: Summer Nationals in Reno
00:12:35 - First Tournament Travel and Early Memories
00:23:28 - Parenting Philosophy: Never Pushing for Results
00:30:37 - Supporting Athletes Through Failure
00:35:20 - Meditation in France: A Life-Changing Hotel Room Lesson
00:47:35 - Watching Your Child Become World Champion
00:54:38 - Advice for Fencing Parents Today
00:58:47 - Sleep Science: How Much Does Sleep Actually Matter for Athletes?
01:07:12 - Sleep Maxing Trends: Mouth Tape and More
01:09:03 - One Light Answers
💬 BEST QUOTES
"You've got to lose to be good. You know, that's part of the process."
"I think the most important time for a parent is probably how you deal with the failures."
"When you look back, I mean, the money comes and goes. You're not going to remember, but it's these opportunities that really transform someone individually."
"You build on your opportunities and on your successes. And if you don't take these early steps, how are you ever going to get to the later ones? You don't just all of a sudden arrive. You have to build up that momentum."
"We didn't look at fencing as, oh, this is a ticket to get you into a college. You were fencing because you wanted a fence. And we recognize how it's good to build character."
Theme Song Written and Performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en
🔗 Connect with Jerry Simmons
🌐: https://www.csma.clinic/
📺: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoJ63AFmFyA
📺: youtube.com/@jerrysimmons1727Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/The Fencer Who Wrote Our Theme Song: Colin Campbell | Direct Elimination Ep. 33
Colin Campbell wrote the Direct Elimination theme song on sticky notes during construction breaks — and he's a Notre Dame fencing champion.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode …
Show notes
Colin Campbell wrote the Direct Elimination theme song on sticky notes during construction breaks — and he's a Notre Dame fencing champion.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Colin wrote, performed, and produced the Direct Elimination theme song — including the bossa nova chord progression, fencing-inspired lyrics, and his stacked harmony technique
• The concrete parallels between competitive fencing and the arts: adaptability, attack planning, committing fully, and performing under pressure
• Colin's journey from age-10 fencer in Washington D.C. through a Senior World Cup appearance, to being on Notre Dame NCAA and ACC championship winning teams, and into Juilliard and professional performance
• How his short film 'The Sharp Way Out,' shot at a former Staten Island correctional facility, and his theatrical adaptations are building toward a serious acting and filmmaking career
Colin Campbell is a multi-instrumentalist, actor, and filmmaker currently studying at Juilliard. He's also a decorated competitive fencer who won ACC and NCAA championships with Notre Dame — and the person behind the theme song you've been hearing at the top of every episode.
Here's our question for you: What's a skill from your sport that showed up somewhere completely unexpected in your creative or professional life? Drop it in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:36 - Welcoming Colin Campbell
00:03:11 - The Story Behind the Direct Elimination Theme Song
00:04:15 - Colin's Musical Origins
00:09:21 - Fencing Roots: Starting at Age 10 in Washington D.C.
00:19:36 - Going All-In on the Arts at Notre Dame
00:21:25 - Early Filmmaking with Teammates
00:27:46 - Colin's Competitive Fencing Career
00:30:55 - Coaching at Sheridan Fencing Academy
00:34:04 - How Fencing Parallels Music, Acting, and Artistic Discipline
00:47:37 - Flow State, Authenticity, and Performing Under Pressure
00:53:26 - The Sharp Way Out
01:03:55 - Upcoming Projects and Continuing to Weave Fencing Into Art
01:06:47 - One Light Answers
01:14:07 - Closing Reflections and Live Performance of the Theme Song
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I will always know from fencing the ability to just adapt to things being thrown at you and taking accountability for your mistake in just a split second."
"Fencing taught me how to understand the way that I moved, my body and my vessel and focusing on carrying through my plan.. and having an attack plan."
"When you're an adult all the fun may seem like it's behind you. No it's not. You can find it, and you can create it with people that are your pals."
"I wrote these lyrics down because I wanted to implement fencing, and I knew that I could do that because I know the sport"
🔗 CONNECT WITH COLIN
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Our Wildest Fencing Season Yet — End of Season Recap
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.Ari beat Olympic and world champion Masaru Yamada at the MedellínFencing World Cup, Stephen and the New York Athletic Club won the Senior National Team Championship …
Show notes
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
Ari beat Olympic and world champion Masaru Yamada at the Medellín
Fencing World Cup, Stephen and the New York Athletic Club won the Senior National Team Championship, and somehow we still squeezed in three weddings, a sponsor visit, a full-reset hike in the mountains above Medellín, and a tarmac wait that almost cost us a flight to Switzerland.
This is the end of the 2025–2026 fencing season — every win, every loss,
and what it taught us heading into LA 2028.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open
00:22 Catching up after a wild stretch of fencing
02:43 Senior Nationals: Nathaniel Wimmer makes history
03:36 Stephen + NYAC win the Division I team championship
04:32 Ari's mental lapse!
07:12 Ari's 9th place finish — and the full-body cramps
08:13 Touchdown in Medellín, Colombia
11:24 The Easy Path Crew is born (USA teammates drawn against each other)
16:16 Day off: a mountain excursion above Medellín with no cell service
21:42 Day 2 in Medellín — Ari's career-best run begins
23:14 Drawing Masaru Yamada — Olympic medalist, world champion silver
27:53 The fall heard around the venue
29:33 Sudden death: beating a world champion
32:14 Congrad Kongstad brings reality back
34:30 Between Colombia and Bern: weddings, work, and prep
37:58 Ari ranked 5th — a sudden Bern qualification
42:00 Four hours on the tarmac
43:23 Bern Day 1: Easy Path Crew, take two
50:53 Processing a loss the same way you'd process a win
52:34 Stephen finds the "Jake Jets"
56:17 Working a full-time job from a Swiss hotel until 11 PM
58:34 Day 2: rematching Akira Komata
1:03:36 Team event: the Kazakhstan comeback
1:11:00 Shout-outs: Alexandre Pittet & Anton "Soup" Piskovatskov
1:18:30 LA 2028 is officially real
1:22:24 Thank-yous and sign-off
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 CONNECT WITH COLIN
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/NCAA Fencing Champion & Paris Olympian Elizabeth Tartakovsky on Women's Saber Fencing, Harvard & Finding Joy Again | Direct Elimination Ep. 32
Paris Olympian Elizabeth Tartakovsky opens up about women's saber fencing, chasing the Olympics, and what comes after the dream.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode, you'll …
Show notes
Paris Olympian Elizabeth Tartakovsky opens up about women's saber fencing, chasing the Olympics, and what comes after the dream.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Elizabeth Tartakovsky went from getting kicked out of ballet to becoming a Paris Olympian in women's saber fencing
• The mental game of defending your best-ever season when Olympic qualification is on the line
• What legendary coach Yury Gelman taught her that had nothing to do with fencing technique
• Why elite fencers quit after college — and what the sport loses when they do
Elizabeth Tartakovsky is a Paris 2024 Olympian, two-time World Cup bronze medalist, Pan American champion, and NCAA individual champion who fenced for Harvard University under coach Yury Gelman, one of the most respected names in saber fencing.
What's your biggest mental challenge in fencing — the competition itself, the training grind, or staying motivated after a big result? Drop it in the comments below.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:26 Introduction & Guest Credentials
00:02:02 Origin Story: How Liz Found Fencing
00:05:21 The 'All In' Moment: Going Competitive
00:08:27 Peaks and Valleys: Navigating Plateaus
00:12:33 The Paris Olympic Journey
00:14:42 Career Highlights & Favorite Memories
00:18:24 Life After Paris: Taking a Break & Coming Back
00:23:32 The Dropout Problem: Fencing After College
00:27:25 Coaching Legend Yury Gelman: Behind the Curtain
00:33:51 Harvard Fencing & the Power of Team
00:37:01 New Jersey State Champion & Fencing's Small World
00:40:46 Upcoming Clinic with Maya Chamberlain & Nora Burke
00:43:29 One Light Answers: Rapid Fire Round
00:45:40 Flunge Tips, Tennis & Closing Fun
00:51:54 Closing Remarks & Where to Find Liz
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I loved being unique and kind of telling my friends, you know what I did?"
"I think I learned just from a few painful losses. It was it was kind of a turning point early on that, like, okay, this is a serious thing. If I want to continue, I actually have to put in the work, and want it for myself."
"The year before Paris was my best season ever. I surpassed every goal. I didn't know I'd ever be ranked in the top 16 in the world."
"It's a game at the end of the day. And I think this is the most amount of kind of play I've had in the sport in a long time."Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 CONNECT WITH COLIN
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/"I Will Go Through Fire for My Students" - Olympic Coach Igor Gantsevich on Coaching, Immigration & Dynamo Fencing Club | Direct Elimination Ep. 31
Igor Gantsevich took Dynamo Fencing Club and built it into 500+ members after injuries ended his career. His family is the immigrant story driving Canadian fencing forward.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing …
Show notes
Igor Gantsevich took Dynamo Fencing Club and built it into 500+ members after injuries ended his career. His family is the immigrant story driving Canadian fencing forward.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Igor pivoted from a career-ending wrist injury to building one of North America's largest fencing clubs — with 500+ members, 30 full-time staff, three Vancouver locations, and a new USA location coming soon
• The father-son coaching dynamic that shaped Igor's entire philosophy, and why he treats every student like his own child
• The Nick Zhang story: the Junior Worlds moment where Igor's sideline emotion may have cost his athlete a bout — and what he said to him afterward
• Why Igor believes complacency is a disease, and how that mindset has driven Dynamo's growth, Team Canada's ambitions, and his refusal to ever retire
Igor Gantsevich is the President of Dynamo Fencing Club and the High Performance Director of Fencing Canada — a former national team athlete whose competitive career was cut short by injury, who then channeled that drive into building one of the most respected fencing programs in the world.
What's the moment — in sport, coaching, or life — where someone told you that you couldn't do it, and you proved them wrong? Tell us in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:27 Growing Up: Tennis Dreams and the Accidental Fencer
00:06:19 Rising Through the Ranks: Junior Worlds and the Canadian National Team
00:08:21 Career-Ending Injuries and the Pivot to Coaching
00:12:59 Starting from Scratch: Schools, Outreach, and Early Club Days
00:15:47 The Academy: Fencing as a PE Credit in West Vancouver Schools
00:19:28 Building Dynamo: Size, Staff, and the Austin Expansion
00:26:25 Immigration, Passion, and Coaching Like a Father
00:31:11 The Nick Zhang Story: When Emotion Costs Your Athlete a Bout
00:36:38 Business Lessons: Patience, Belief, Honesty, and Community
00:44:31 The Origin of the Name 'Dynamo'
00:49:26 Goals as a Coach: Olympic Medals, Hunger, and Never Retiring
01:00:03 The Global Fencing Landscape: Asia Rising and North America's Moment
01:05:43 Retaining Athletes Post-College and the Future of Professional Fencing
01:12:15 Rapid Fire Questions and Closing Thoughts
💬 BEST QUOTES
"One word: immigration. Very simple. We're survivors. We fought for everything that we have"
"I will go through fire for my students. And now that I'm high performance director of Team Canada, I'll go through fire for my country."🔗 Connect with Igor
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/igor_gantsevich/Connect with Dynamo Fencing Club
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dynamofencing/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dynamofencing
📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaUEXzPBdw7nsg8VhWGb6bQTheme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/3x Olympian Kat Holmes Used Game Theory to Win a World Championship Gold | Direct Elimination Ep. 30
3-time Olympian & World Champion Kat Holmes used game theory to win. She qualified for the Olympics while surviving medical school on zero sleep. This is an elite competitor. The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing …
Show notes
3-time Olympian & World Champion Kat Holmes used game theory to win. She qualified for the Olympics while surviving medical school on zero sleep. This is an elite competitor.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Kat used her Princeton thesis on Nash equilibrium to develop an overtime fencing strategy that helped anchor Team USA to the 2018 World Championship title
• What it actually looked like to train for the Olympics while completing medical school — the sleep deprivation, the mental health struggles, and how she got through it
• The shocking moment Kat was asked to testify at a legal hearing for the Alan Hadzic safe sport case the night before her Olympic debut at Tokyo
• How Kat's biomechanics research on fencing lunges and injury patterns is shaping the future of sports medicine for fencers
Kat Holmes is a three-time Olympian (Rio, Tokyo, Paris), 2018 World Championship anchor for Team USA's women's épée squad, four-time NCAA All-American at Princeton, and a practicing medical professional whose scientific research is now focused on the sport she's spent her life mastering.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:06 A Nine-Year-Old Who Wanted to Sword Fight
00:06:54 The Distinctive Style
00:09:19 Fencing, Princeton, and the Road to the Olympics
00:13:04 Paris: The Final Hurrah
00:19:34 Tokyo Olympics
00:25:05 Medical School, Mental Health, and Burnout
00:27:54 Leveling Up as a Team
00:29:44 Becoming the Best Anchor in the World
00:32:31 Kat's Winning Thesis
00:35:32 Winning Strategy, Commitment, and Tactical Discipline
00:41:43 Performance Optimization
00:44:14 Biomechanics Research
00:50:03 One Light Answers
00:54:33 Closing Thoughts
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I will say that medical school and qualifying for the Olympics was like the hardest. I can't honestly imagine anything harder. I didn't sleep for two years."
"I never want to have to wonder, like, what if? What if I had worked harder? What if I had done this? I really wanted to always leave it on the table."
"I think at one point I probably was the best anchor in the world for like a little minute."
"I don't have an Olympic medal. Do I want one? Yes. Would I like to be Olympic champion? Obviously. But I think, you know, the body of my career more speaks to the heart and soul that I put into it."🔗 Connect with Kat
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldfencingleague
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/World Fencing League Debut: What Happens Next?
World Fencing League finally debuted with the most eyes on fencing since Paris. We break down every match, the $10K prizes, and why the tech disappointed.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this …
Show notes
World Fencing League finally debuted with the most eyes on fencing since Paris. We break down every match, the $10K prizes, and why the tech disappointed.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why the WFL debut may be the biggest moment for fencing since the Paris Olympics and what it still needs to fix to become a real league
• How $10,000 per match compares to winning an entire World Championship, and what that prize structure means for athlete motivation
• A full match-by-match breakdown including Maia Chamberlain's MVP performance, Lee Kiefer's opening bout, and Ryan Choi vs. Miles Chamley-Watson closing the night
• Why Dentsu's much-hyped blade-tracking and 3D replay technology fell flat in live execution, and what the WFL must do differently next time
Direct Elimination is your home for honest, knowledgeable fencing coverage that doesn't talk down to the sport or the fans. Whether you've been fencing for twenty years or you just found out epee exists, this is the show for you.
The World Fencing League just ran its first-ever event, and we give you the complete recap. We celebrate what the WFL got right, call out what it got wrong, and lay out what needs to happen for this league to actually build the fencing audience it's promising.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:12 Intro
00:02:30 World Fencing League Debut... First Impressions
00:06:29 Cash Prizes: A Game Changer for Fencing
00:09:42 New Rule Sets, Tech, and Fencing's Future
00:12:53 Match 1 Recap
00:18:46 Match 2 Recap
00:21:57 Matches 3 & 4
00:27:47 Match 5 Recap
00:29:55 Match 6 & Closing Ceremony
00:34:27 What Could Have Gone Better
00:38:44 Team Format, Gambling Rollout & Marketing Misses
00:43:59 Commentary Critique
00:47:17 Final Thoughts
💬 BEST QUOTES
"if you don't have a crazy chat room on a live stream, then you're not doing it right."
"for world championships, if you win the whole tournament you get $40,000 as of last year. but that's a whole tournament. here you fence one equal opponent. And when you're getting $10,000 for one match. Yeah. Those stakes are way crazier."
"I think the real winner of the World Fencing League was Maia Chamberlain. Man. She pulled up. She balled out. She gets fighter of the night."World Fencing League
Website: https://worldfencingleague.org/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldfencingleague
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/World Fencing League: Publicity Stunt or Fencing's Future?
World Fencing League debuts, but is it fencing's future or just hype? We break down Miles Chambley-Watson, blade tracking tech & bold predictions.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this …
Show notes
World Fencing League debuts, but is it fencing's future or just hype? We break down Miles Chambley-Watson, blade tracking tech & bold predictions.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- Why Miles Chamley-Watson is both the perfect and most controversial choice as the face of the World Fencing League, and what his various sponsorships says about fencing's mainstream potential.
- How Dentsu's blade tracking technology works, what it means for spectators trying to understand the sport of fencing, and why it could have implications far beyond fencing
- Why Lee Kiefer, arguably the greatest U.S. fencer of all time, has received almost zero marketing ahead of this debut, and what that says about the league's storytelling woes
- Full match-by-match predictions for Team Blade vs Team Shield across all six bouts, plus an honest verdict on whether the World Fencing League can actually move the needle for the sport
This episode covers the World Fencing League's debut event from every angle: the format, the athletes, the tech, the missed opportunities, and the genuine hope that this could be a transformative moment for professional fencing.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:50 Miles-Chamley Watson
00:07:07 Early Impressions
00:08:24 Breaking Down the ormat
00:10:32 Dentsu Explained
00:11:33 Good or Bad Strategy?
00:15:05 Marketing Failures
00:23:05 Scheduling
00:26:04 Dragging Fencing Into the Future
00:30:35 Match Predictions
00:33:52 Building Legitimacy
00:37:04 Final Verdict
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I grew up absolutely idolizing this guy [Miles]. He is one of, if not the most recognizable fencer in the world, really trailblazing in terms of sponsorships."
"Lee Kiefer is arguably on the Mount Rushmore for women's foil all time. She's an incredibly. Rushmore. Incredibly accomplished athlete, incredible representative of the sport, the best U.S. fencer of all time, full stop. And there's been barely any marketing about her."
"This is one of the really exciting things about this event. It's an attempt to drag fencing into the future. The FIE has had many opportunities and has continued to fall short on them."
"How cool is it that fencing is going to be live on streaming platforms everywhere, outside of the Olympics? And it's not going to be a blurry YouTube feed that USA fencing is putting out."
World Fencing League
Website: https://worldfencingleague.org/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldfencingleague
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Mohamed El-Sayed: The Story of Super Mo and His Rise to World Fencing Dominance | Direct Elimination Ep. 29
Mohamed El-Sayed has emerged from young underdog to the #1 Ranked Men's Epee Fencer in the World. He explains the "One Man Job" mindset that he credits this success to.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing …
Show notes
Mohamed El-Sayed has emerged from young underdog to the #1 Ranked Men's Epee Fencer in the World. He explains the "One Man Job" mindset that he credits this success to.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Mohamed El-Sayed cleared his furniture, trained alone for 8–9 months during COVID, and emerged as Egypt's national number one — the turning point that launched everything
• Why Mohamed says he's genuinely in love with every part of the process — visa struggles, solo travel, and all — and how that mindset keeps him performing at the top
• The psychology behind the "Super Mo" alter ego, where it came from, and why having a competition identity changed everything for him mentally
Mohamed El-Sayed is a Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist and current World #1 in men's epee fencing, all at the young age of 23 and a promising future ahead of him.
What part of Mohamed's story hit hardest for you — the COVID training grind, the solo travel with no support, or the Super Mo mindset? Drop it in the comments below.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction & Mohamed's Athletic Background
00:09:57 Covid Lockdown: The Career Turning Point
00:15:34 Dad as Coach: Family Dynamics & the El-Sayed Fencing Dynasty
00:26:31 Moving to NYC Alone & Building the One Man Formula
00:43:48 The Visa Struggle Nobody Talks About
00:52:43 Tokyo Olympics: Losing and Knowing It's Only a Matter of Time
01:01:07 Balance, Faith, and Finding Your Own Formula
01:17:44 The Origin of Super Mo
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I just didn't want to go, oh, like I'm an Olympian, you know, at 18 years old. No. I wanted to actually actually do something."
"I have the plan. I do the work. And when I went to the Olympic Games, you know, it all pays off."
"I know my worth. I know it might take time. Three years, four years, but I know I'll be there, you know? So I'm just putting in the work, work, work."
"I'm in love with the process. I'm really, really enjoying what's happening. The training, my competitions, my visa process, my travels. I'm enjoying it. I really live in the present and I'm enjoying it. I'm thankful."Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en🔗 Connect with Mo
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_supermooo/📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamsupermooo
Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Jackie Dubrovich: Olympic Gold, Then What? Life After Paris 2024 | Direct Elimination Ep. 28
Jackie Dubrovich won Olympic gold with USA fencing in Paris 2024 — then walked away. What happens when the dream is done?The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode, you'll discover:• How …
Show notes
Jackie Dubrovich won Olympic gold with USA fencing in Paris 2024 — then walked away. What happens when the dream is done?
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Jackie balanced a full-time corporate 9-to-5 with elite Olympic training — and why she says she couldn't physically do it again at 31
• What it's really like to be coached by your husband, share an Olympic gold medal moment with him, and still come home to the same person that night
• The paralyzing fear Jackie felt at her final individual Olympic event and how she willed herself through it on pure determination
• What identity after sport actually feels like — the aimlessness, the adrenaline gap, and the unglamorous realities of building Polaris Fencing Center from the ground up
Jackie Dubrovich is a two-time Olympian and Olympic gold medalist with the US Women's Foil Team at Paris 2024, one of the most decorated American fencers of her generation. Since retiring, she has channeled her competitive drive into opening Polaris Fencing Center in New Jersey, where she now coaches the next generation of fencers.
What's the hardest part of life after competing at the highest level — losing the sport itself, or losing the person you were inside it? Tell us in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:20 Growing Up in New Jersey
00:08:28 The Grind
00:11:18 Husband & Coach Dynamic
00:20:53 The Pressure of a Final Olympics
00:25:26 Opening Polaris Fencing Center
00:35:37 What She Misses Most
00:37:57 Life After Sport
00:43:10 Lessons from the Podcast
00:45:12 One Light Answers
00:50:02 Closing Thoughts & Shoutout to Polaris Fencing Center
💬 BEST QUOTES
"My whole life was work like a 9 to 5 and then train in the evenings, compete on the weekends, train on the weekends that I'm not competing."
"It was it was a really beautiful, meaningful moment. And then to be able to hug him afterwards."
"I was just willing myself to the finish line. I knew that this was it, I just had nothing else to give."
"There is no other way to kind of replicate in my day to day life, the adrenaline that fencing gave me."Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en🔗 Connect with Jackie
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackiedubrovich/🤺Polaris Fencing Center: https://www.polarisfencing.com/
Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/We Competed at the Astana Epee World Cup — Here's How it Went | Strategy, Upsets & Team USA Epee Rising
We competed at the Astana Epee World Cup in Kazakhstan — and Team USA beat Olympic champion Hungary. Full recap inside.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this episode, you'll discover:• What …
Show notes
We competed at the Astana Epee World Cup in Kazakhstan — and Team USA beat Olympic champion Hungary. Full recap inside.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• What it's actually like to compete at an international epee World Cup in Kazakhstan — the culture, the food, and the competition floor
• How Team USA Men's Epee finished sixth and pulled off a landmark overtime win over Olympic champion Hungary, signaling real program growth on the world stage
• A deep tactical breakdown of ego vs. simplicity in fencing strategy — and why sticking to the simplest path to victory is harder than it sounds
• How epee is evolving globally, becoming faster and more physical, and what that means for competitors trying to keep up
Ari and Stephen are active competitors on the international fencing circuit who combine firsthand competitive experience with honest, unfiltered analysis — the kind of breakdown you won't find anywhere else in the fencing content space.
Did you think Team USA had a legitimate shot at beating Hungary going into that match — or does a win like that still surprise you?
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Intro: Back From Kazakhstan & Why We Missed Last Episode
00:03:51 Vlogging the World Cup
00:07:02 Pool Round Breakdown
00:19:31 Between Rounds: Kazakhstan Venue, Energy, and Team USA Vibe
00:26:49 Fencing Strategy Deep Dive: Defensive Play, Ego, and Winning Formulas
00:41:47 Kazakh Food, Horse Meat, and Smuggling Salami Home
00:45:03 Individual Event Shoutouts
00:49:25 Team Event Recap: USA Beats Olympic Champions Hungary in Overtime
00:53:29 USA Women's Epee Team Dominance
00:59:22 Fencing Content and Upcoming Episodes
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I hadn't felt this type of happiness to compete in such a long time."
"At the competitions, you have to be the Rubik's Cube, and you also have to be the impenetrable wall. You have to be all these things."
"This was the first time that I think the teams around the world looked at us and saw that we might be improving, and it was really, really awesome to see as an athlete, as a teammate and as someone who's, you know, really supporting this program in our in our growing stages."
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Olympic Fencer Soren Thompson: Going From "Career-Ending" Injury to Self-Coaching Success | Direct Elimination Ep. 27
Olympic fencer Soren Thompson tore his hamstring so badly he could barely walk—then self-coached his way back to the 2012 Games. His unconventional philosophy changed how he approached elite performance.The …
Show notes
Olympic fencer Soren Thompson tore his hamstring so badly he could barely walk—then self-coached his way back to the 2012 Games. His unconventional philosophy changed how he approached elite performance.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Soren became the first American to reach Olympic top 8 in men's epee since 1956—despite growing up in San Diego with limited resources
• The complete hamstring rupture that was initially misdiagnosed and nearly ended his career, requiring years of daily maintenance
• His radical self-coaching experiment: developing tactical hypotheses, challenging fencing dogma, and rethinking the sport from first principles while working full-time
• The philosophy of athlete ownership: why elite performers must become their own coaches and think independently rather than blindly following instructions
• Team fencing mastery: understanding your specific role in each encounter, passing scores strategically, and prioritizing collective discipline over individual glory
Soren Thompson competed in the 2004 and 2012 Olympics in men's epee, becoming one of the most decorated American epeeists in history. His journey from San Diego outsider to two-time Olympian represents an unconventional path built on independent thinking, relentless experimentation, and mental resilience.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:51 San Diego Beginnings: The Unlikely Fencer
00:29:17 First Olympics 2004: Making History
00:46:00 Career-Ending Injury and Dark Period
00:48:00 The Self-Coaching Experiment
00:53:20 Philosophy of Self-Coaching and Independent Thinking
01:04:06 Career Longevity: Multiple Olympic Cycles and Comebacks
01:17:08 Team Fencing Mastery: Roles, Strategy, and Success
01:33:29 Rapid Fire: Favorite Fencers, Cities, and Sean Studs
MYO - click here
Modern physical therapy to futureproof your body. Through 1:1 expert care, they use full-body awareness and proactive insights to intercept injury, reduce pain, and improve your every day.
Use promo code "DIRECTMYO100" for $100 off your first session.
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Olympic Champion Fencer Romain Cannone on Winning Gold and his Sudden Departure from the Sport | Direct Elimination Ep. 26
Romain Cannone went from Olympic alternate to Olympic gold in Tokyo. He reveals the flow state & fencing culture that made it possible, and why he walked away at his peak. The untold American-French story.The …
Show notes
Romain Cannone went from Olympic alternate to Olympic gold in Tokyo. He reveals the flow state & fencing culture that made it possible, and why he walked away at his peak. The untold American-French story.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How straddling American and French fencing systems created the perfect Olympic champion
• What a true flow state feels like in competition—seeing opponents in slow motion and becoming immune to mind games
• Why the French training center culture (living, eating, training together daily) was essential to his gold medalRomain Cannone made history as the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in men's épée, representing France after a unique journey that began in the American fencing system. His underdog-to-hero story spans two continents, two training philosophies, and the mental warfare of elite competition. After three years of post-Olympic dominance, he made the brave decision to step away from elite competition to prioritize mental health and family.
What would you choose: continuing to dominate at the highest level or walking away for your mental health and happiness? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:03:22 Origin Story
00:12:05 The French Training System and Team Culture
00:17:20 Earning Respect on the French Team
00:33:00 Tokyo Olympics Journey
00:48:33 The Flow State - Fencing Without Fear
00:55:35 Winning the Game
01:00:28 Three Years of Dominance
01:06:11 Choosing Happiness
01:09:39 Coaching and Giving Back
01:13:38 One Light Answers💬 BEST QUOTES
"If I didn't start in the US, I wouldn't have been Olympic champion. Just as if I stayed in the US and not gone to France, I wouldn't have won the Olympics."
"when you're at the Olympics, each second is pure happiness. So you try to fence as long as you can because sitting in a room, you know, getting water or whatever, that's not what you train your whole life for. You train your whole life to just move and fence with the opponents."MYO - click here
Modern physical therapy to futureproof your body. Through 1:1 expert care, they use full-body awareness and proactive insights to intercept injury, reduce pain, and improve your every day.
Use promo code "DIRECTMYO100" for $100 off your first session.
🔗 Connect with Romain
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romaincannone/
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/The Real Cost of Becoming an Elite Athlete: Dylan Nollner on Sacrifice & Mentality | Direct Elimination Ep. 25
What does it cost to become USA's #1 fencer? Dylan Nollner reveals the sacrifices, mental training, and why he walked away at his peak performance.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this …
Show notes
What does it cost to become USA's #1 fencer? Dylan Nollner reveals the sacrifices, mental training, and why he walked away at his peak performance.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How transcendental meditation and Coach Aladar Kogler's pillars create flow states in sport, and specifically fencing
• Why retiring at #1 in the USA made more sense than pursuing Olympic dreams
• The hidden costs of competitive fencing: missed weddings, delayed careers, and personal sacrifices
• How balancing work and training actually can improve athletic performance instead of hurting it
Dylan Nollner is a former elite épée fencer who reached #1 in the USA rankings and trained under legendary coach Aladar Kogler. Now coaching and creating content to break down gatekeeping in fencing, Dylan shares the mental game strategies and life lessons many athletes never talk about publicly.
Have you ever walked away from something you were great at? What made you decide it was time? Drop your story in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction: Dylan Nollner's Journey
00:03:30 Getting Started: From Utah to Elite Fencing
00:12:00 Training with Aladar Kogler
00:17:59 The Mental Game: Meditation and Flow States
00:23:44 Retirement: Walking Away as #1
00:32:35 Hating Competition but Loving Fencing
00:34:44 Coaching Philosophy
00:39:02 Breaking Down Gatekeeping Through Content Creation
00:46:05 Balancing Work and Athletic Passion
00:51:47 One Light Answers - Rapid Fire
💬 BEST QUOTES
-- "I just didn't want to look back ten years after after retiring and wish I had tried harder."
-- "you can feel the cost of giving so much to any endeavor as you go through it."
-- "it is an opportunity for mastery. Right? And if I give 100% to this thing, how good can I be?"
-- "If you are all in on fencing, you have every egg in that basket, and so when a tournament goes poorly, you are going to judge yourself twice as hard."
MYO - click here
Modern physical therapy to futureproof your body. Through 1:1 expert care, they use full-body awareness and proactive insights to intercept injury, reduce pain, and improve your every day.
Use promo code "DIRECTMYO100" for $100 off your first session.
🔗 Connect with Dylan
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firstintention/
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=enThank you for listening!
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🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
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📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Unplanned Episodes 1: The World Fencing League Can Change Everything...
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.After an unplanned hiatus, Ari and Stephen return to Direct Elimination with a commitment to authenticity, consistency, and real conversations about fencing. From …
Show notes
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
After an unplanned hiatus, Ari and Stephen return to Direct Elimination with a commitment to authenticity, consistency, and real conversations about fencing. From their original failed league project to witnessing history at the World Cups, this episode marks a fresh start for the podcast that refuses to take itself too seriously.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why Ari and Stephen took a break from posting and what they're doing differently in 2026 to stay consistent
• The truth about their original professional fencing league concept and why they're celebrating someone else making it happen
• Stephen's firsthand experience competing at the Fujairah World Cup and the realities of tournament life in the Middle East
• How underdogs like Elijah Imrek and Conrad Kongstad are proving that traditional fencing powerhouses don't have a monopoly on medals anymore
Ari Simmons and Stephen Ewart are the hosts of Direct Elimination, competitive fencers, and passionate advocates for growing the sport beyond its traditional boundaries. Their combined perspective as athletes, content creators, and former league organizers gives unique insight into where fencing is headed.
If you're a fencer looking for honest conversations about the sport without the corporate polish, hit subscribe and join us every week. Drop a comment telling us what tournament results surprised you most or what you want us to cover next!
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Welcome Back: 2026 Goals & Hiatus Explanation
00:04:09 Being More Authentic & Dropping Formality
00:06:13 Original League Project & World Fencing League
00:14:23 Stephen's Fujairah World Cup Recap
00:28:10 Reconnecting Through Fencing
00:32:13 Tournament Recap: Elijah's Breakthrough & Kong Stad's Medal
00:42:00 The Evolution of Fencing Technique
00:49:45 Dubai Chocolate & Content Plans
💬 QUOTES
"How freaking cool is it that there is money being poured from outside of fencing into fencing, and not through the traditional NGBs or Federations?"
"you don't have to come from the traditional fencing countries. The powers that be are constantly shifting and everyone has a chance."MYO - click here
Modern physical therapy to futureproof your body. Through 1:1 expert care, they use full-body awareness and proactive insights to intercept injury, reduce pain, and improve your every day.
Use promo code "DIRECTMYO100" for $100 off your first session.
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en
Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Unplanned Episodes 2: We Finally Faced Each Other in Direct Elimination | Cincinnati NAC Recap & Youth Sports Parenting
Stephen and Ari finally faced each other in direct elimination at NAC Cincinnati. We break down the match, mental prep challenges, and youth sports parenting.The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.In this …
Show notes
Stephen and Ari finally faced each other in direct elimination at NAC Cincinnati. We break down the match, mental prep challenges, and youth sports parenting.
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• The moment Stephen and Ari finally fenced each other in competition and how they approached the mental game of facing a close friend
• Why focus and mental preparation can make or break your tournament performance, even against familiar opponents
• The intense parenting dynamics in youth fencing and how to add value as a parent without adding pressure
• How the US men's epee domestic circuit is becoming more competitive with fewer upsets and what it means for the fencing community
Stephen Ewart and Ari Simmons are teammates, podcast co-hosts, and competitive fencers who bring authentic insights from inside the US men's epee circuit. They finally matched up at the February 2026 NAC, but did it deliver what the direct elimination fans have been anticipating?
What's your take on parental involvement in youth sports? Have you witnessed situations that crossed the line, or do you have examples of parents who got it right? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction & NAC Overview
00:02:53 The Stephen vs. Ari Direct Elimination Matchup
00:05:37 Fencing Teammate Mindset
00:08:04 Focus and Preparation Challenges
00:12:36 Podcast Community Engagement
00:26:18 The Coffee Shop Parenting Story
00:34:05 Pressure, Investment & Family Dynamics
00:38:58 Process vs. Results in Parenting
00:44:56 Tournament Results Across Weapons
00:50:00 Clinics & Community Outreach
00:52:56 Closing & Theme Song
💬 BEST QUOTES
"honestly, the feeling of not rising to the occasion. I felt that you were you were more assertive. And I was constantly on the reactive side of things."
"I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that anybody can be good at this."
"What value my adding to the situation, and is there a better way for me to communicate what I'm trying to communicate?"MYO - click here
Modern physical therapy to futureproof your body. Through 1:1 expert care, they use full-body awareness and proactive insights to intercept injury, reduce pain, and improve your every day.
Use promo code "DIRECTMYO100" for $100 off your first session.
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en
Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/NCAA All-American Fencer Em Beihold on Becoming Someone She's Proud Of | Direct Elimination Ep. 24
Em Beihold went viral but struggled with deep depression. The NCAA All-American fencer turned full-time artist reveals how imposter syndrome follows you—even at the top.🎙️ EPISODE 23 | EM BEIHOLDThe Fencing …
Show notes
Em Beihold went viral but struggled with deep depression. The NCAA All-American fencer turned full-time artist reveals how imposter syndrome follows you—even at the top.
🎙️ EPISODE 23 | EM BEIHOLD
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How imposter syndrome manifests differently in fencing vs. music careers—and why success doesn't eliminate self-doubt
• The critical importance of balance: why Em credits having both fencing and music for her mental health and perspective
• The reality behind viral success in 2022—stress, identity crisis, and feeling perceived without knowing yourself
• How confidence transfers between completely different domains and why getting good at one thing enables mastery in another
Em Beihold is an NCAA All-American fencer who competed at UCSD and a breakthrough music artist whose songs have garnered millions of streams. She's uniquely positioned to speak on high-performance mindset, mental health, and finding fulfillment beyond outcomes.
What's one area of your life where you've experienced imposter syndrome even while succeeding? Drop a comment below—Em's story might help you reframe it.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:06:11 Imposter Syndrome in Fencing and Music
00:13:37 College Fencing Journey at UCSD
00:21:20 The Reality Behind Viral Success in 2022
00:27:58 Life on Tour and Being Perceived
00:37:52 The Creative Process and Working with Narcissists
00:42:04 Delusion vs Reality in Performance
00:52:56 Impact of Fame on Relationships
01:03:00 Finding Fulfillment in the Process
01:06:44 One Light Answers💬 QUOTES
"I'd fence girls who were A's and literally be winning and then think to myself like they're an A, like, why am I winning? And then I'd psych myself out and. Lose."
"I think I had some really deep depression because I think that was tied with my worth."
"this album could flop and I'd still be so proud of it. And I feel like at peace with myself to be able to say that"
"if you're just yourself and you're not trying to pretend to be someone else, then you're already winning, right?"MYO - click here
Modern physical therapy to futureproof your body. Through 1:1 expert care, they use full-body awareness and proactive insights to intercept injury, reduce pain, and improve your every day.
Use promo code "DIRECTMYO100" for $100 off your first session.
Theme song written and performed by Colin Campbell
🔗 Connect with Colin
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/campbelltunes/?hl=en
Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Fencing Injuries, Prehab & Physical Therapy for Athletes - Dr. Rachel Hey-Shipton | Direct Elimination Ep. 23
🎙️ EPISODE 23 | RACHEL HEY-SHIPTONThe Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.What if the reason you're still hurt, still compensating, or still underperforming isn't a lack of training — but a lack …
Show notes
🎙️ EPISODE 23 | RACHEL HEY-SHIPTON
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
What if the reason you're still hurt, still compensating, or still underperforming isn't a lack of training — but a lack of the *right* care? Dr. Rachel Hey-Shipton has built a reputation among USA national team fencers and Olympians for doing something most sports PTs don't: actually understanding fencing. In this episode, she exposes a systemic gap in how fencers are treated, breaks down the injuries unique to this sport, and reframes physical therapy as a performance tool — not just a last resort.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- Why fencers have historically been handed rehab programs designed for other sports — and how that mismatch makes injuries worse, not better
- The difference between prehab and rehab, and why waiting until you're in pain to see a PT is like waiting for a cavity before visiting the dentist
- The most common fencing-specific injuries — hip labral tears, proximal hamstring issues, knee pain, and foot and ankle problems — and why the sport's unique stance and movement patterns drive all of them
- How addressing the mind-body connection and emotional side of injury can unlock performance gains that pure movement correction alone never will
Rachel Hey-Shipton is a Doctor of Physical Therapy who trained at Columbia University after studying kinesiology at Cal Poly SLO. She taught herself the mechanics of fencing by watching hundreds of slow-motion YouTube videos frame by frame — because she believed fencers deserved sport-specific care. Her clients have included USA national team athletes and Olympians, and her approach has earned her a cult following in the NYC fencing community.
⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00:07 Intro & Welcome
00:04:28 Rachel's Background
00:06:33 How Rachel Discovered Fencing
00:11:14 When Should Someone See a PT?
00:19:13 Most Common Fencing Injuries
00:26:49 Rachel's Origin Story
00:36:00 The Mind-Body Connection in Physical Therapy
00:43:15 Should You Become a PT?
00:54:15 One Light Answers
💬 QUOTES"I felt like there was a big gap that I was hearing in your care and that it was really really common that you guys were getting programming that was for another sport that was just kind of shunted to you. I didn't hear that you were getting the care that I thought you should get for the things that you were describing."
MYO - click here
Modern physical therapy to futureproof your body. Through 1:1 expert care, they use full-body awareness and proactive insights to intercept injury, reduce pain, and improve your every day.
Use promo code "DIRECTMYO100" for $100 off your first session.
Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Seth Kelsey: World Champion Fencer on Going All-In, Olympic Heartbreak, and Investing in the Process | Direct Elimination Ep. 22
🎙️ EPISODE 22 | SETH KELSEY INTERVIEWThe Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.What does it really take to compete at the highest level of fencing? Seth Kelsey is the best Men's Epee Fencer in USA …
Show notes
🎙️ EPISODE 22 | SETH KELSEY INTERVIEW
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
What does it really take to compete at the highest level of fencing? Seth Kelsey is the best Men's Epee Fencer in USA Fencing history. The 2012 World Team Champion and Olympic 4th place finisher reveals the moment he learned what 100% commitment actually means—and shares the mental preparation that led him to the biggest moments and wins of his career.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• How Seth's fencing journey started with friendship and fun, not Olympic ambitions—and why that foundation became crucial to his success
• The transformative "all-in moment" after the 2008 Olympics when Seth and his team implemented a rigorous 5-day strength and conditioning program that changed everything
• What happened when the Air Force unexpectedly cut his planned career path, and how he adapted to keep his fencing dreams alive
• The raw mental preparation behind his World Championship anchor bout: "I'm going to leave it all out there"
• How Seth processed the emotional aftermath of his final Olympic performance, including PTSD-like symptoms and a 7+ month journey to find peace
• The evolution of USA men's epee culture through the PEAR motto (Professionalism, Excellence, Accountability, Respect) and what modern fencing looks like compared to his competing era
Seth Kelsey is a 2012 World Team Champion, three-time Olympian, and many-time US National Team member who competed at the highest levels of men's epee. His insights on commitment, resilience, and team culture offer valuable lessons for fencers at every level.
👍 If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the channel and drop a comment sharing your biggest takeaway from Seth's story!
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Intro
00:04:47 Origins: Finding Fencing Through Friendship
00:11:39 The All-In Moment: Strength & Conditioning Revolution
00:16:00 When Plans Collapse: Air Force Cutbacks
00:29:25 2010 World Championships Silver Medal
00:41:00 2012 World Championships: Seven Touches and History
00:47:43 Olympic Performance & Ruptured Tricep
00:49:55 Beating the Number One Seed
01:00:00 Processing Olympic Disappointment
01:03:50 PAIR Culture & Perry Surprise
01:16:08 National Coach Experience & Modern Fencing
01:28:56 One Light Answers
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I know what it takes to put in 100%, and I don't know if I have that for another four years. And I think this is only worth doing for me if I can do it at that level."
"You don't get too many shots to be world champion, and I didn't want to leave anything out there."
"I'm going to challenge him every moment. Every time. I'm gonna make his life as difficult as possible."
"I think there are lessons I hadn't learned yet that I want to impart on the team now so they can learn them now, and don't have to learn them in LA [Olympic Games]."Thank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/Building Freedom and the Leap of Faith that Changed Everything for Adam Metwally | Direct Elimination Ep. 21
🎙️ EPISODE 21 | ADAM METWALLY INTERVIEWThe Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.What if the key to success isn't following the five-step plan, but ignoring all advice and creating an audacious version …
Show notes
🎙️ EPISODE 21 | ADAM METWALLY INTERVIEW
The Fencing Podcast of All Fencing Podcasts.
What if the key to success isn't following the five-step plan, but ignoring all advice and creating an audacious version of yourself? Adam Metwally moved from Australia to NYC after one spontaneous trip, invested in a nightclub after six weeks, and built multiple income streams—all while treating his podcast as art, not a business. This conversation will change how you think about risk, freedom, and building the life you actually want.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• Why building financial security BEFORE taking major leaps gives you the freedom to bet on yourself without desperation
• The "alter ego method" Adam discovered after 140+ podcast interviews—how successful people create an audacious persona and make decisions through that lens until they become it
• How to know when you've hit your ceiling and why comfort is often the enemy of growth
• The 80-year-old regret test: a powerful framework for making life-changing decisions without overthinking
• Why the grind itself—showing up daily for an unreasonable amount of time—matters more than natural talent or specific outcomes
Adam Metwally went from engineering student in Australia to NYC nightlife entrepreneur, DJ, agency owner, and podcast host. After building and selling a successful business in a small city, Covid forced him to confront his ceiling. Now he's focused on long-term freedom, treating his podcast as an art form, and helping others navigate their own transformations.
If you're an entrepreneur tired of playing small, someone considering a major life leap, or just want to understand what actually drives successful people beyond the surface-level advice—this episode is for you.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction & Background: From Australia to NYC
00:06:00 The Nightlife Journey: Building a Business from Zero
00:11:00 Covid Reflection & The Decision to Leave
00:18:00 All-In Moments & Decision-Making Philosophy
00:27:00 Current Focus: Podcast as Art & Building Around It
00:36:00 The Humanization of Mentors & Podcast Insights
00:40:01 Fun Question: The Dumb Hot Show Experience
00:43:09 What Drives You: The Grinding Mindset
00:52:54 Being the Dumbest Person in the Room
00:57:20 The Alter Ego Method and Advice Paradox
01:10:45 One Light Answers Rapid Fire
💬 BEST QUOTES
"I came here and the whole world opened up to me that I never, ever thought that I had any business being a part of."
"I've learned over the last ten years or so that the most valuable thing you can have in your life is your freedom. And I've been fighting really hard to prioritize my freedom to do the things that I want to do."
"the problem with advice is if it's prescriptive, it kind of doesn't work like the five steps to X, the ten steps to Y, anyone that's actually going to make genuine change in their life kind of needs to ignore this."Theme Song written and performed by Colin Campbell
Connect with Adam!
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meetwally/?hl=en
📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP62dkT4JUozGGlk7zT1afQSupport Fencing For a Purpose
Website: https://fencingforapurpose.org/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencingforapurpose/
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/fencing-for-a-purposeThank you for listening!
🔗 Check out FencR
🌐: https://www.fencr.app/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fencr.app🔗 Connect with Us
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple: https://link.me/directelimination
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directelimination/
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@directeliminationpodcast
📺 Subscribe for more episodes: youtube.com/@DirectElimination🔗 Prieur USA
🌐: https://www.prieurusa.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prieur_usa/
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