(Porec, Croatia) – With U.S. athletes winning five medals on Saturday, the 2011 Veteran World Team tied the best result ever for a U.S. team at the event.
The medals won by Jane Eyre (Woolwich Township, N.J.), Jere Bothelio (San Jose, Calif.), Jim Adams (Rockville, Md.), Drew Ridge (Warminster, Pa.) and Lydia Mazorol (Simi Valley, Calif.) added to Team USA’s previously won nine medals for a total of 14 which matched the 2005 Veteran World Team’s total medal count with one day to go in the competition.
Team USA also regained its position as the overall medal leader as the U.S. Team moved ahead of Great Britain who has 12 medals for the event so far.
A three-time Veteran World silver medalist, Adams earned a bye into the table of 16 and then defeated Akira Shinki (JPN), 6-2.
Adams was joined in the quarter-finals by 2010 Vet Worlds silver medalist Kazimieras Campe (Edgewood, Md.) who won his table of 16 bout against Mark Henry (Potomac, Md.), 10-7, who finished 16th overall.
Adams advanced to the gold medal bout after wins over British fencers Nigel Hinchliff, 10-5, and William Osbaldeston, 4-3.
Campe, however, lost his quarter-final bout to Gari Aftandilov (RUS), 10-5.
Aftandilov, the reigning Veteran World Champion in saber, foil and epee, would go to on defeat Adams, 10-4, in the final.
A two-time silver medalist in past years who has earned Veteran World Championships medals in both epee and foil, Adams expressed his desire to win his first Vet World Championship title this year.
“It’s better to be there than to not be there, but I’m very frustrated that was the third time I’ve been on the finals strip and not won a gold medal,” Adams said. “I thought I fenced very very well. The DE bouts were all very tough and I won them, but I feel like I worked very hard today.”
For Adams, like many of his teammates, competing at the Veteran Worlds is more than just a chance to earn a title.
“I enjoy the people that I meet. The competition, the sense of achievement. It’s something I belong to. There’s my family, my country, but this is also something I really belong to,” said Adams who has competed on eight Veteran World Teams. “I wrote my grandchildren yesterday and told them that coming here is like coming to a family reunion because I see so many people that I’ve seen past years and look forward to seeing them again.”
In the men’s 60-69 epee, Team USA had two athletes on the podium as Jere Bothelio (San Jose, Calif.) earned a silver and Drew Ridge (Warminster, Pa.) won a bronze.
Returning to the Veteran World Championships for the first time since 2006, Bothelio won his bout in the 32 against Andrea Parducci (ITA), 10-7, to advance to the table of 16 alongside Ridge and James Flint (New Hope, Pa.)
Although Flint lost to 2009 Veteran World Champion Henning Bjerch-Andresen (NOR), 10-4, and would ultimately finish 15th. Bothelio and Ridge each earned berths to the quarter-finals for the first time at the Veteran Worlds. Ridge won his table of 16 bout against Francois Gaudry (FRA), 10-3, while Bothelio edged 2008 Veteran World medalist Kenichi Hinoshota (JPN), 8-7.
In the quarter-finals, Bothelio won his bout against Gerrit Beekhuizen (NED), 10-3, and Ridge dominated his bout against Bjerch-Andresen, 10-2.
With both athletes on the same side of the table, Bothelio and Ridge would have to fence each other. Although the bout was close, Bothelio took the win, 10-7, to advance to the gold medal bout.
Down 5-0 against Francois Ringeissen (FRA), Bothelio came back, but Bingeissen scored the final touch to end the bout, 10-6.
“You can’t ever give up, no matter what the score is. I knew I was down, but you just have to keep going,” said Bothelio who has been fencing for 17 seasons after starting the sport at age 43.
Robert Cochrane Jr. (Lake Worth, Fla.) also competed in the 60-69 epee event, but lost his bout in the table of 32 to five-time Veteran World Champion Graham Paul (GBR), 10-8, and finished 20th.
In the women’s 50-59 saber event, Jane Eyre (Woolwich Township, N.J.) was in the unenviable position of defending her 2010 Veteran World Championship title. A gold medalist in 2005, Eyre had won four Veteran World medals coming into this year’s event and knew the pressure of trying to return to the top.
With a bye into the 16, Eyre quickly won her first direct elimination bout, 10-3, against Miyako Derose (JPN) and defeated two-time Veteran World medalist Claudia Bandieri (ITA), 10-8, in the semifinals.
On the opposite side of the draw, Lydia Mazorol (Simi Valley, Calif.) won her quarter-final bout against teammate Heidi Runyan (San Diego, Calif.), 10-9, to move into the semifinals against 2010 Veteran World silver medalist Friederike Janshen (GER). Janshen won the close bout, 10-6, and Mazorol earned bronze at her first Veteran World Championships.
In the gold medal bout, Eyre took on Janshen in a rematch of their 2010 Veteran World final.
This year, however, Janshen controlled the bout early and earned the win, 10-4.
“I lost some of my intensity today. Just getting into the finals is always thrilling,” Eyre said. “Every time you win it’s harder the next time. Even at the national level, people expect it and I put a lot of pressure on myself. I won in 2005 and it took me five years to pull myself together and do it again last year, so I was excited to be able to get back to the finals, but it’s extremely hard to get back to the top again.”
In the women’s +70 foil, Catherine Maier (Atlanta, Ga.) and Bettie Graham (Washington, D.C.) each advanced to the quarter-finals.
Maier finished seventh in the world after a 10-2 loss to Barbel Gorius (GER). Graham, who won bronze in the epee event earlier this week, faced Janet Cooksey (GBR) for the second time at the event and lost the bout, 10-3, to finish eighth.
Una Jackson (Hilton Head, S.C.) and Judith Evans (Greenwich, Conn.) were both eliminated in the pools.
Click here for complete results.
Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:
Women’s 50-59 Saber
1. Friederike Janshen (GER)
2. Jane Eyre (Woolwich Township, N.J.)
3. Lydia Mazorol (Simi Valley, Calif.)
3. Sylvie Zini (FRA)
5. Heidi Runyan (San Diego, Calif.)
6. Claudiea Bandieri (ITA)
7. Min Yi Du (AUS)
8. Jane Hutchinson (GBR)
18. Jeanine Bender (Princeton, N.J.)
Men’s +70 Epee
1. Gary Aftandilov (RUS)
2. James Adams (Rockville, Md.)
3. William Osbaldeston (GBR)
3. Robert Schiel (LUX)
5. Jean-Paul Boitel (FRA)
6. Kazimeiras Campe (Edgewood, Md.)
7. Volker Hrovat (AUS)
8. Nigel Hinchliff (GBR)
16. Mark Henry (Potomac, Md.)
Men’s 60-69 Epee
1. Francois Ringeissen (FRA)
2. Jere Bothelio (San Jose, Calif.)
3. Drew Ridge (Westminster, Pa.)
3. Stanislav Syrovatko (UKR)
5. Henning Bjerch-Andressen (NOR)
6. Norbert Kuhn (GER)
7. Gerrit Beekhuizen (NED)
8. Vladimir Chubarov (GER)
15. James Flint (New Hope, Pa.)
20. Bob Cochrane (Lake Worth, Fla.)
Women’s +70 Foil
1. Janet Cooksey (GBR)
2. Barbel Gorius (GER)
3. Eva Cremer Schlede (GER)
3. Lia Saracino (GER)
5. Sylvia Brown (GBR)
6. Zimaida Zvarkina (UKR)
7. Catherine Maier (Atlanta, Ga.)
8. Bettie Graham (Washington, D.C.)
13. Judith Evans (Greenwich, Conn.)
15. Una Jackson (Hilton Head, S.C.)
Tag(s): News Jane Eyre Drew Ridge James Adams
