Anita Blaze

Anita Blaze
Personal information
Born	(1991-10-29) 29 October 1991 (age 32) Baie-Mahault, France
Nationality	French
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Sport
Country	France
Sport	Fencing
Weapon	Foil
Hand	Right-handed
Club	CM Aubervilliers
FIE ranking	current ranking
Medal record Women's foil Representing  France Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Team World Championships 2013 Budapest Team 2015 Moscow Team 2018 Wuxi Team 2022 Cairo Team European Games 2023 Kraków–Małopolska Team European Championships 2012 Legnano Team 2013 Zagreb Team 2019 Düsseldorf Team 2022 Antalya Team 2023 Kraków Team 2015 Montreux Team 2018 Novi Sad Team Military World Games 2019 Wuhan Individual

Anita Blaze (born 29 October 1991) is a French right-handed foil fencer, two-time Olympian, and 2021 team Olympic silver medalist.^[1] Blaze competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.^[2]

Career

Blaze was born in Guadeloupe, an overseas region of France. She took up fencing at the age of four and learnt the sport in the club of Petit-Bourg. She quickly showed talent and was selected into a centre for promising athletes in metropolitan France. She won a team silver medal in the 2008 Cadet European Championships in Rovigo and an individual silver medal in the 2010 Junior World Championships in Baku.^[3]

She joined the French senior national team, with whom she earned a team silver medal in the 2012 European Championships in Legnano. She competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as first reserve.^[4] After defeating Poland in the quarter-finals, France were routed 45–22 by Italy, whose team comprised all three individual Olympic medallists. France met South Korea in the final for the bronze medal. Blaze managed to reduce the 12-hit advantage acquired early by Korea, but France lost eventually 32 to 45.^[5]

In the 2012–13 season Blaze reached the quarter-finals in the Budapest Grand Prix and earned a double silver medal in the French national championship. She finished 30th in the Fencing World Cup, a career best as of 2014. She took another team silver medal at the 2013 European Championships in Zagreb, after France was again defeated by Italy.^[6] History repeated itself at the World Championships a month later in Budapest: France met Italy in the final and lost heavily 45–18, coming home with a silver medal.^[7] In the 2013–14 season Blaze reached the quarter-finals in the Tauberbischofsheim Grand Prix, but otherwise disappointing results and a calf strain caused her to be dropped from the French team that won bronze medals in the European Championships and the World Championships.

In the 2014–15 season Blaze climbed the first World Cup podium in her career with a bronze medal in the Torino Grand Prix, after she was defeated in the semi-final by twice World champion Arianna Errigo.^[8]

Medal record

Olympic Games

Year	Location	Event	Position
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Team Women's Foil	2nd[9]

World Championship

Year	Location	Event	Position
2013	Budapest, Hungary	Team Women's Foil	2nd[10]
2015	Moscow, Russia	Team Women's Foil	3rd[11]
2018	Wuxi, China	Team Women's Foil	3rd[12]

European Championship

Year	Location	Event	Position
2012	Legnano, Italy	Team Women's Foil	2nd[13]
2013	Zagreb, Croatia	Team Women's Foil	2nd[14]
2015	Montreux, Switzerland	Team Women's Foil	3rd[15]
2018	Novi Sad, Serbia	Team Women's Foil	3rd[16]
2019	Düsseldorf, Germany	Team Women's Foil	2nd[17]

Grand Prix

Date	Location	Event	Position
2014-11-28	Turin, Italy	Individual Women's Foil	3rd[18]

World Cup

Date	Location	Event	Position
2022-04-29	Tauberbischofsheim, Germany	Individual Women's Foil	2nd[19]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anita Blaze.

• Anita Blaze at the International Fencing Federation
• Anita Blaze at the European Fencing Confederation (archive)
• Anita Blaze at Olympedia
• Anita Blaze at Olympics.com
• Anita Blaze at Olympic.org (archived)
• Anita Blaze at Équipe de France (in French)
• Anita Blaze at Équipe de France Olympique (archived) (in French)