Ivan Lee
Ivan Lee in 2005
Personal information
Full nameIvan James Lee
Born (1981-03-31) March 31, 1981
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight70 kg (154 lb)[1]
Sport
SportFencing
EventMen's Sabre
College teamSt. John's University
ClubPeter Westbrook Foundation
Fencers Club
Coached byYury Gelman[2]
Now coachingLong Island University (2019–23)
Medal record
Men's fencing
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place2003 Santo DomingoIndividual Sabre
Gold medal – first place2003 Santo DomingoTeam Sabre
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2001 GdańskJunior Team Sabre
Silver medal – second place2001 GdańskJunior Individual Sabre
Bronze medal – third place1998 ValenciaCadet Individual Sabre
Bronze medal – third place2000 South BendJunior Individual Sabre
Representing St. John's University
NCAA Championships
Gold medal – first place2001 Wisconsin/ParksideIndividual Sabre
Gold medal – first place2001 Wisconsin/ParksideTeam Sabre
Gold medal – first place2002 DrewIndividual Sabre
Silver medal – second place2003 Air ForceIndividual Sabre
Bronze medal – third place2000 StanfordIndividual Sabre

Ivan James Lee (born March 31, 1981) is an American Olympic sabre fencer and coach. He was a two-time NCAA Men's Sabre Champion, a five-time national sabre champion, and was inducted into the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame. He worked as a police officer in the New York City Police Department from 2008 until 2022, and as the Women's Fencing Team Head Coach at Long Island University from 2019 until December 2023. Lee was elected Chair of the board of directors of USA Fencing in September 2023. He was suspended by USA Fencing on December 22, 2023, for his alleged conduct that would constitute a violation of the SafeSport Code. Lee resigned when he was informed of his suspension.

Fencing career

1994–2014; competitive career

Lee was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, living in East Flatbush, and later lived in Cambria Heights, Queens, and Jamaica, Queens, in New York City.[3][4][5][6][7][8] He began fencing in 1994 at the Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF) in New York City, which he continued to represent throughout his competitive career along with the Fencers Club in Manhattan.[9][10][11][12][2][13] He served as a volunteer instructor at PWF until 2018. Lee graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, in 1999.[14][15]

He received a full athletic scholarship to St. John's University in Queens, New York.[4] There, Lee won the NCAA individual sabre title in 2001 and 2002, and along with fellow future Olympian and longtime clubmate, friend, and sabre fencer Keeth Smart, helped lead the school to an NCAA national championship in 2001.[16][11][2][17]

Lee was a member of the 2001 U.S. Junior World Sabre team.[8] He anchored the team to its first men's world title at the 2001 Junior World Championships in Gdańsk, Poland, and also became the second man of African American descent to win a world fencing championship.[18] He was awarded the USOC's Male Athlete of the Year Award for Fencing in 2001.[19] He went on to win individual and team gold medals at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.[20][2] He graduated from St. John's in January 2004 with a bachelor's degree in Journalism.[13][2]

2004 fencing Olympians from Peter Westbrook Foundation, Keeth Smart, Erinn Smart, Ivan Lee, and Kamara James (l-r)

Lee was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team in Athens, Greece.[21][22] He placed 12th in the individual competition and 4th in the team competition.[23] To be successful in fencing, which he likened to physical chess, he said it was most important to be intelligent and "brutally aggressive."[5]

Ivan Lee and Keeth Smart fencing each other; 2006

After failing to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Team, Lee retired in 2008.[18] Prior to his retirement, in 2008 he won his fifth U.S. Senior Championship, a title he had also won in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2006, but his poor results in international tournaments kept him from making the US Olympic Team.[24][25][19] He holds four world championship medals, and is the first American male fencer to win a Junior Olympic Championship, a National Championship, an NCAA Championship, a World Championship, a Pan American Championship, and make an Olympic Team. Lee was inducted into the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame in 2014.[26][27] He has been a competitive veteran fencer, and won two consecutive national titles in Vet-40 men’s saber.[28]

2015–present; college coach and USA Fencing Chair

Lee was the Head Coach of the Women's Fencing Team of Long Island University from March 2019 until December 2023.[29] It was his first coaching position, and he said: "I love coaching. It’s very rewarding."[30] At the 2021 NCAA National Championship, his freshman Hungarian fencer Laura Fekete -- whom he had recruited -- won the gold medal in épée, the first NCAA fencing championship in school history.[28][30][31][6][32] The following season, in 2022, she won the bronze medal.[33][28][30] Fekete said: "Ivan helped me with everything he could. He was always by my side."[32]

Lee was elected Chair of the board of directors of USA Fencing in September 2023.[29]

He was suspended by USA Fencing on December 22, 2023, for his alleged conduct that would constitute a violation of the SafeSport Code.[29] Lee resigned when he was informed of his suspension.[29]

Professional and volunteer work

Lee worked as a police officer in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from July 2008 until February 2022.[30][13][34] He spent his first six years on the police force in the NYPD transit bureau, and his last seven years as a physical training instructor at the Police Academy.[28]

He also served as the Fencing Commissioner for the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) from 2008 to 2019.[8] The PSAL is a scholastic athletic program that coordinates sports competitions for New York City public high schools.[35]

He was a board member of the Rosalyn Yalow Charter School in the Bronx[36] from 2014 until 2023. He has served as a deacon, administrator, and youth leader at his church, taught classes at PWF, mentored high school and college students at the USOC's F.L.A.M.E. (Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere) program,[18] and counseled teenagers at New Horizons Ministries.[37] He founded a fencing club called Naviblue Sports in New York.[38] Lee has also been the Head Sabre Coach at Long Island Fencing Center in Carle Place, New York.[39]

Personal

Ivan is the only child of Wesley Desmond Lee and Cynthia Lee.[40] His mother, a retired teacher, heard from a fellow teacher who was the mother of future Olympic medalists Erinn Smart and Keeth Smart, that her children participated in a non-profit fencing program for children in Manhattan, the PWF.[18] Mrs. Lee talked her son into trying it, and he was hooked immediately. Lee initially instead wanted to play baseball in high school and beyond.[5][41] But his father, an auto mechanic and pastor of Ebenezer Missionary Chapel in Brooklyn, convinced him to take fencing seriously because of what he saw as the college scholarship possibility in fencing.[2][42]

Lee and his wife, Shameeka Waddell Lee, have two children.[40]

Awards and honors

  • 2004 U.S. Olympic Team member[23]
  • Five-time Division 1 Men's Sabre National Champion (2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008)[19][25]
  • 2021, 2022, 2023 Veteran-40 Men's Sabre National Champion
  • 2003 Pan American Men's Sabre Champion[2]
  • 2003 Pan American Men's Sabre Team Champion[2]
  • 2001, 2002 NCAA Men's Sabre Champion[17][16]
  • 2001 USOC Male Athlete of the Year, Fencing[19]
  • US Fencing Association Hall of Fame inductee, class of 2014[27]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Ivan Lee". Olympedia.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "New York Fencer Getting Chance to Compete at Home". The New York Times. June 13, 2004.
  3. ↑ Rondeaux, Candace (March 19, 2002). "School Champ Won't Be Foiled". New York Daily News.
  4. 1 2 Williams, Lena (May 17, 2001). "Fencing; Around the World With Saber in Hand". The New York Times.
  5. 1 2 3 "Jamaica Resident Is Athens-Bound". QNS News. August 12, 2004.
  6. 1 2 Heather Shayne Blakeslee (September 30, 2020). "Culture Files // Officer of the Peace: An Olympic fencer turned police officer makes a plea for understanding". Root Quarterly.
  7. ↑ Jomantas, Nicole (February 28, 2014). "African-American Fencers Aim to Make History in Rio". USA Fencing.
  8. 1 2 3 Wendell, Bryan (June 6, 2023). "2023 USA Fencing Election Results: Lee, Lehfeldt, Salem Win At-Large Seats on Board of Directors". USA Fencing.
  9. ↑ Ron Wilson (March 17, 2011). "Have sabre, will travel". Democrat and Chronicle.
  10. ↑ Rebecca Leung (October 6, 2003). "En Garde". CBS News.
  11. 1 2 "Three Former St. John's Fencers Selected to U.S. Olympic Team". St. John's University Athletics. March 31, 2004.
  12. ↑ Harris, Christopher (August 12, 2016). "Blades of Glory: Meet Our Black Olympian Fencers". Ebony.
  13. 1 2 3 "Ivan Lee - Head Coach - Women's Fencing Coaches". Long Island University.
  14. ↑ "Boy's Fencing Invitational Tournament". Brooklyn Technical High School.
  15. ↑ Michael Edwards (2019). "Class Notes". Tech Times. p. 23.
  16. 1 2 "2001 NCAA Championships Results". ncaa.escrimeresults.com.
  17. 1 2 "2002 NCAA Championships Results". ncaa.escrimeresults.com.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Jomantas, Nicole (July 26, 2013). "Ivan Lee Shares Fencing, Choices with the Next Generation". USA Fencing.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Wendell, Bryan (September 8, 2023). "Olympian Ivan Lee Elected as Chair of USA Fencing Board of Directors". USA Fencing.
  20. ↑ Jeff Bukantz (Fall 2003). "High Expectations, Higher Returns; at Pan Am Games," American Fencing.
  21. ↑ Robbins, Liz (July 8, 2004). "OLYMPICS; Sibling Rivalry Foils the Obstacles". The New York Times.
  22. ↑ Jeff Bukantz (September 30, 2022). "Rules & Referees". American Fencing. p. 26.
  23. 1 2 "Ivan Lee," Olympics.com.
  24. ↑ Grant, T. P. (July 22, 2008). "US Men's Sabre Ready For 2008 Olympics, Without Lee". Bleacher Report.
  25. 1 2 ""U.S. Fencing Division I Individual National Medalists by Event"" (PDF).
  26. ↑ "Ivan Lee Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  27. 1 2 Josh Peter (December 23, 2023). "USA Fencing suspends board chair Ivan Lee, who subsequently resigns from position". USA TODAY.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Wendell, Bryan (November 10, 2022). "USA Fencing Welcomes Two New Vice Chairs to Board of Directors". USA Fencing.
  29. 1 2 3 4 Josh Peter (December 22, 2023). "USA Fencing suspends board chair Ivan Lee, who subsequently resigns from position". USA TODAY.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Elfman, Lois (April 15, 2021). "LIU establishes itself as a national power in fencing". New York Amsterdam News.
  31. ↑ Adam Rubin (December 4, 2023). "Laura Fekete Earns Third Straight All-America Honor after NCAA Championships Success". Long Island University.
  32. 1 2 Andrew Scarpaci (April 9, 2021). "Fencer Laura Fekete Becomes Sharks' First NCAA National Champion". The Tide.
  33. ↑ "Fencing Olympian Wins Title at Summer Nationals". Long Island University. July 16, 2021.
  34. ↑ "Ivan J. Lee". 50-a.org.
  35. ↑ "Public Schools Athletic League". NYC Public Schools.
  36. ↑ "Board of Trustees – Rosalyn Yalow Charter School".
  37. ↑ Ken Slentz (June 16, 2014). "Charter Schools: Initial Applications and Charters Authorized by the Board of Regents"
  38. ↑ "Our Founder". Navibluesports.
  39. ↑ "End of Year 2022 by USA Fencing". American Fencing. December 21, 2022.
  40. 1 2 "Ebenezer Missionary History". Ebenezer Missionary Chapel.
  41. ↑ "SJU Fencer Ivan Lee Wins Junior World Cup". St. John's University Athletics. November 29, 2000.
  42. ↑ Saul, Stephanie (October 17, 2022). "Fencing Can Be Six-Figure Expensive, but It Wins in College Admissions; How niche sports offer a pathway to the Ivy League and other elite schools". The New York Times.
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