St. John's University Athletics
Gelman Leads Smart, Sabre Team To Silver At 2008 Olympics
8/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Fencing
Aug. 19, 2008
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QUEENS, N.Y. - The U.S. men's sabre team captured its first fencing medal since 1984 in the team championship, Sunday, winning the silver medal against France, led by coach Yury Gelman. Fencers Keeth Smart, Tim Morehouse, and Jason Rogers defeated Hungary and Russia to get to the gold medal match.
The U.S. trailed France throughout the gold medal match, but rallied late by narrowing the gap, 44-37. The French however, would eventually prevail when Julien Pillet, made the final touch to win the gold, while the U.S. men's sabre team took the silver medal.
In the quarterfinals, down 40-36, in the race to 45 points, Smart came on in the final round against Nemcsik Zsolt to tie the Hungarians at 44. On the last point, Smart helped send the team to the semifinals in an upset against Hungary, 45-44. In a semifinal versus Russia, the team was trailing, 40-35, when Smart defeated Stanislav Pozdnyakov ending the bout with a final score of 45-44.
After a fourth place finish in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Gelman and his team spent four years preparing for Beijing, hoping to return to the podium for the first time in 24 years.
Smart overcame many hurdles leading up to the 2008 summer games. In 2005, Smart had to deal with the death of his father from a heart attack, then this spring after competing in Algeria, Smart was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that inhibited his body's ability to make platelets. He spent two weeks in intensive care, where doctors told him to forget his fencing career. Two months later, Smart's mother, Liz, lost her two year battle with cancer. The Brooklyn native defied the odds and began training soon after, more focused than ever to achieve a medal in the Olympics.
Head coach of the Red Storm since 1996, the Beijing games marked Gelman's third appearance as a coach in the Olympics. The entire sabre team trained out of Gelman's Manhattan Fencing Center in the hub of New York. Gelman now returns to St. John's for his 14th season.
No stranger to the international stage, Gelman has coached six Red Storm fencing Olympians: Smart, Ivan Lee, Arlene Stevens, Jonathan Tiomkin, Wozniak and Olga Ovtchinnikova.
Erin Smart, Keeth's sister, helped the U.S. win its first medal in women's foil and the first for the U.S. in any foil event since 1960. The women's team took the silver medal in a match up versus Russia.