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About Tim
Perseverance and Commitment
Tim's story is one of perseverance and commitment. Now a top-ranking international fencer and Olympic silver medalist, his illustrious fencing career had something of an inauspicious beginning. Far from being a childhood prodigy like so many of his fellow U.S. Olympians, Tim initially saw the sport of fencing as little more than a good excuse to avoid taking gym class. As this feisty teenager soon learned, however, fencing has an arresting quality, and within a year he was hooked on the excitement and strategy involved in dueling opponents with a blade.
Having narrowly avoided getting kicked off the team, Tim started to flourish under the patient and caring eye of his high school coach at Riverdale Country School, Martin Schneider. Tim began to love the sport and learned important lessons about commitment and approaching activities with passion. He soon became known for his hard work, never missing a practice or arriving late, and was rewarded with the team captaincy in his junior and senior years.
Although he was competitive during high school, he was not the strongest fencer on his team. Unlike his fellow Olympians, Tim did not have top-tier schools beating a path to his door once he graduated from high school. In fact, he took up the only offer he received from a fencing school, Brandeis University.
Tim's Meteoric Rise
The first Brandeis alumnus ever to compete in the Olympic Games, Tim didn't manage to qualify for the NCAA tournament as a university freshman, but as he has done throughout his career he learned important lessons, even in his setbacks, and never stopped working hard. In spite of this slow start to his college fencing career, he showed a glimpse of things to come towards the end of the regular season when he defeated all three national champions from the previous three years.
Over the next three years, under the guidance of coach Bill Shipman, Tim became one of the strongest college fencers in the country. During his time at Brandeis he was a three-time University Athletic Association champion and a three-time All-American. He served as captain of the fencing team during his junior and senior years, leading his team to wins over Division I schools like Duke and Harvard University. In 2000, he was voted the NCAA men's saber fencer of the year while leading the Division III Brandeis Judges to a top-10 finish at the Division I NCAA Championships. After three individual top-ten NCAA finishes in a row in his final three years at Brandeis, Tim stood on the threshold of the big time.
In 2004, Tim's big breakthrough at the elite circuit level arrived when he was selected as a first alternative for the U.S. team to participate in the Athens Olympic Games. Tim then qualified for the national team in the following three seasons, competing in World Championships and improving his results at each competition: finishing in the top-60 in Germany, 29th in Italy and 15th in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2007. In April 2008, his success was rewarded once more when he was selected to represent the U.S. team at the Beijing Olympics.
Since 2006, he has reached at least the quarter-final stage in six World Cups, including a silver medal win in Algeria in 2007. At the Pan American Zonal Championships that year, he captured the silver medal in the individual competition. Tim's other career highlights include a 2004 team National Championship, a 2005 individual silver medal at the U.S. Nationals, multiple team World Cup medals, and two Pan American Zonal Team Championships. In January of 2008, Tim attained new career highs when he reached the rankings of number 1 in the U.S. and 11 in the world.
Silver in Beijing and beyond
Tim's quest for glory in China continued as he competed in both individual and team saber at the Olympic Games. Written off against powerhouse European teams in the team competition, Tim and his compatriots shocked everyone, pulling out stunning 45-44 victories against Hungary in the quarterfinals and Russia in the semifinals, resulting in the first Olympic medal for US Men's Fencing since 1984 and capping off the best showing by American fencers ever.
Tim continues to dream big, intending to capture an individual medal at the London games in 2012, as well as leading the men’s team back to the podium. He has launched Ten Thousand Fencers, a social network to raise the profile of the sport of fencing and bring new people to the sport he loves so much. Finally, he has started his life as a public speaker, bringing his unique view on the power of perseverance and drive in attaining your goals.
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