Tamir Bloom
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| Born | December 23, 1971 New York, New York, United States |
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| Sport | Fencing | |||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Tamir Bloom (born December 24, 1971, in New York City) is an American epee fencer.
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Fencing career [edit]
Olympics [edit]
At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Bloom placed 31st in individual epee. He was a member of the U.S. épée team that finished 8th, after being eliminated by Italy in the quarterfinals, 45-44.[1]
At the end of a busy 3rd year that cut into his training, Bloom took a break from medical school for the 1999–2000 academic year to focus on preparing for Sydney. But when a torn ACL caused him to miss the World Championships (where he could have qualified), he postponed an operation, wore a brace, and attempted to qualify by accumulating enough points in international tournaments. In May 2000, he won the Western Hemisphere Zonal qualification tournament in Buenos Aires, making the team in his final attempt to qualify for the Olympics.
At the 2000 Sydney Games, Bloom lost in the 2nd round of individual épée to Arnd Scmitt, the top-ranked épée fencer in the world. Bloom finished 29th.[2][3]
Pan American Games [edit]
Bloom won silver medals in the individual and team foil events at the 1995 Pan American Games.
US Championships [edit]
Shortly after the 1996 Olympics, he began his studies at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in his hometown of New York City. While a full-time student, he continued fencing, winning the individual épée U.S. national championship in both 1998 [4] and 1999.[5]
World Championships [edit]
Bloom has competed at 4 World Championships, with his best individual result being a 31st place finish in 1994; he also was a member of the U.S. team épée which placed 17th.
Bloom finished 20th in the team épée event at the 1997 World Championships,
He was unable to compete at the 1999 World Championships in Seoul because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee which he suffered playing basketball in October 1999.[6] Bloom made the trip to Seoul with the intention of competing and helping the US team secure a berth to the Olympics, but days before the event he was barred from competing by the chief of the US Fencing delegation. Since there was not enough time for an alternate to fly over and take his spot, the team's coach, 4-time Olympian Michael Marx, took Bloom's spot; the American trio finished 15th, failing to earn the U.S. a berth in the team épée competition at the 2000 Olympics. Bloom missed a significant number of competitions while injured, but he accumulated enough World Cup points to qualify and ultimately win the 2000 Olympic Zonal Qualifier in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bloom went on to become the only American men's epee fencer to qualify for the Sydney Olympic Games.
Hall of Fame [edit]
Bloom, who is Jewish, was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.[7]
Miscellaneous [edit]
- Bloom and his family have dual U.S./Israeli citizenship.
- Bloom's first cousin, Gil Ofer, competed in the judo competition for Israel at the Sydney Olympics. They had not seen each other in 10 years, but competed in the same building within 2 days of each other.
- Attended Millburn High School.
- Is left-handed.
- Bloom's father is artist Murray Bloom.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ "Tamir Bloom Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
- ^ http://oldsite.usfencing.org/Results/2000Olympics.asp
- ^ "US Fencing Saturday – USFA Update". Fencing.net. September 18, 2000. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
- ^ Dicker, Ron (June 15, 1998). "FENCING - U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS - Brooklyn Teen-Ager Wins the Foil". New York Times. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ http://oldsite.usfencing.org/Official/BOD200007M.pdf
- ^ http://www.jewishsports.org/jewishsports/detail.asp?id=202
