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Alexander Massialas Inducted Into FIE Hall of Fame, a Crowning Achievement for the Four-Time Olympian and Stanford Head Coach

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by Bryan Wendell

Fencer Alexander Massialas smiles at the camera

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Alexander Massialas OLY has spent more than a decade setting the standard for U.S. men’s foil — from NCAA titles to Olympic podiums to a world team crown. Now the four-time Olympian and current Stanford head coach has been elected to the FIE Hall of Fame, the International Fencing Federation’s highest honor.

A fixture for Team USA at every Olympics since London 2012, Massialas owns three Olympic medals — individual silver (Rio 2016) plus two team bronzes (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020). He was the first U.S. men’s fencer to win two medals at a single Olympic Games since 1904.

On the World Championships stage, Massialas is a seven-time medalist, highlighted by gold in men’s team foil (2019) and silver medals in 2013, 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2025 (team) as well as 2015 (individual). That 2019 title marked the first-ever senior men’s team foil world championship for the United States.

Before winning his first Olympic medal, Massialas starred on The Farm, earning two NCAA championships (2013, 2015) for Stanford. In 2024, he returned to Stanford as head coach of the Cardinal fencing program — a role he begins his second season in this year.

Massialas’ leadership extends beyond competition and coaching. He has served on the FIE Athletes Commission since 2022, ensuring athletes’ voices are represented at the sport’s highest levels.

Along the way, Massialas has been a consistent force on the World Cup and Grand Prix circuits and rose to world No. 1 ahead of the Rio Games — the product of season-after-season excellence. He’s also showing no signs of slowing down; Massialas enters the 2025-26 senior season ranked No. 2 in the world.

Massialas joins a 2025 FIE Hall of Fame class that also includes Oh Sang-uk (KOR), Andrea Borella (ITA) and Gyorgy Nebald (HUN), with Michele Torella (ITA) honored in the Fencing Family category.

Others from Team USA in the FIE Hall of Fame

The FIE Hall of Fame was established in 2013. To date, these athletes and members of the fencing family who represent the United States have been inducted:

  • Carl Borack, member of the 1972 Olympic Team and an advocate and force for fencing
  • Sam Cheris, who served countless roles with USA Fencing and was essential in the development and assigning of referees at all levels
  • Miguel de Capriles, the first non-European president of the FIE
  • Sada Jacobson, two-time Olympian and one of the pioneers of women’s saber fencing
  • Ed Korfanty, coach of Mariel Zagunis when she won the first ever women’s saber title at the Olympics
  • Lee Kiefer, Three-time Olympic gold medalist in women’s foil and the first U.S. fencer ever to win an individual Olympic gold medal in foil
  • Gerek Meinhardt, five-time Olympian and a trailblazer in men’s foil in the United States
  • Vladimir Nazlymov, four-time Olympian and one of the world’s most decorated saber fencers who went on to coach at Ohio State
  • Chaba Pallaghy, one of Team USA’s top saber fencers who went on to help grow fencing in the U.S. and serve the FIE
  • Rebecca Ward, saber fencer and 2006 world champion who earned two medals at the 2008 Olympics
  • Peter Westbrook, the first African American person to win an Olympic fencing medal who went on to open doors to help more people experience fencing
  • Mariel Zagunis, first ever Olympic champion in women’s saber and the first U.S. fencer to win Olympic gold in more than 100 years