Elaine Cheris
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elaine Gayle Cheris |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | January 8, 1946 Dothan, Alabama, United States |
| Height | 5-7.5 (172 cm) |
| Weight | 121 lb (55 kg) |
| Sport | |
| Country | USA |
| Sport | Fencing |
| Event(s) | Foil and epee |
Elaine Gayle Cheris (born January 8, 1946) is an American Olympic fencer.
Early and personal life
Cherise was born in Dothan, Alabama, and is Jewish.[1][2][3][4] She earned a BS in Physical Education and Sports Psychology at Troy University, where she competed on the men's track team, in 1971.[1][5][6] She married Sam David Chéris, a lawyer, in 1980.[7][6]
Fencing career
Cheris began fencing at 29 years of age.[8] She was working at the time as the assistant athletic director at a Jewish Community Center in New Haven, Connecticut, where she put together a fencing program and decided to try the sport.[8] In 1979 she quit her job to train for the Olympic tryouts.[8]
Cheris qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia.[8] She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead.[9]
She did compete for the United States in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul in foil at the age of 42 (she was knocked out by Italian silver medalist Laura Chiesa, 15-13), and in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta in epee at the age of 50 (the second-oldest female US Olympic fencer ever, after Maxine Mitchell).[1][8] Cheris was an alternate in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, having missed making the team by one touch.[8]
Cheris won an individual silver medal and a team gold medal at the 1981 Maccabiah Games.[1][8] At the end of the 1985 season, she was the Number 1 US female foil fencer at age 39.[6]
She won a gold medal in team foil at the 1987 Pan American Games, and a gold medal in team epee at the 1991 Pan American Games.[1][8]
Cheris was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.[8] In 1993, the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime awarded her its Gold Medal of Honor.[8]
She founded the fencing club the Cheyenne Fencing Society and Modern Pentathlon Center of Denver in Denver, Colorado.[1][8][10] Cheris has authored Fencing: Steps to Success (2002).[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Elaine Cheris Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
- ^ "Jewish Post 17 August 1988 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ "Jewish Post 26 October 1988 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ "Encyclopaedia Judaica Year Book". Encyclopaedia Judaica. February 9, 1983. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ "The World Who's who of Women". Melrose Press. February 9, 1995. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c Press, Associated (January 26, 1986). "Lack of Competition Here Continues to Foil Her : Top American Fencer Elaine Cheris Would Like to Challenge to the Europeans". Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via LA Times.
- ^ "Who's who in Finance and Industry". Marquis Who's Who. February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Evangelista, Nick; Evangelista, Anita (February 9, 2018). "The Woman Fencer". Wish Publishing. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
- ^ "Cheyenne Fencing & Modern Pentathlon - Fencing classes in Denver". Cheyenne Fencing & Modern Pentathlon - Fencing classes in Denver. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ Cheris, Elaine (February 9, 2018). "Fencing: Steps to Success". Human Kinetics. Retrieved February 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- 1946 births
- Living people
- American female fencers
- Olympic fencers of the United States
- Fencers at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Fencers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Sportspeople from Dothan, Alabama
- Congressional Gold Medal recipients
- Jewish fencers
- Jewish American sportspeople
- Sportspeople from Denver
- Maccabiah Games fencers
- Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States
- Maccabiah Games silver medalists for the United States
- Competitors at the 1981 Maccabiah Games
- Competitors at the 1987 Pan American Games
- Competitors at the 1991 Pan American Games
- Pan American Games medalists in fencing
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States
- Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States
- Troy University alumni
- Writers from Denver
- Jewish women writers
- Jewish sportswomen
- American women sportswriters
- American women non-fiction writers