Gerek Meinhardt

Gerek Meinhardt
Meinhardt at the 2013 World Fencing Championships
Personal information
Born	Gerek Lin Meinhardt (1990-07-27) July 27, 1990 (age 34) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Sport
Country	United States
Weapon	Foil
Hand	Right-handed
National coach	Greg Massialas
Club	Notre Dame / Massialas Foundation
FIE ranking	current ranking
Medal record Men's foil Representing the  United States Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team 2020 Tokyo Team World Championships 2019 Budapest Team 2013 Budapest Team 2017 Leipzig Team 2018 Wuxi Team 2022 Cairo Team 2010 Paris Individual 2015 Moscow Individual Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Team 2015 Toronto Team 2019 Lima Individual 2019 Lima Team 2023 Santiago Team 2015 Toronto Individual Pan American Championships 2007 Montreal Individual 2008 Querétaro City Team 2009 San Salvador Team 2010 San José Team 2011 Reno, Nevada Team 2012 Cancún Team 2013 Cartagena Individual 2013 Cartagena Team 2014 San José Individual 2014 San José Team 2016 Panama City Team 2017 Montreal Team 2018 Havana Team 2019 Toronto Team 2022 Asunción Team 2023 Lima Individual 2023 Lima Team 2024 Lima Team 2007 Montreal Team 2008 Querétaro City Individual 2009 San Salvador Individual 2024 Lima Individual 2011 Reno, Nevada Individual 2012 Cancún Individual 2015 Santiago Individual 2017 Montreal Individual 2018 Havana Individual 2019 Toronto Individual 2022 Asunción Individual

Gerek Lin Meinhardt (/ˈɡɛrɪk ˈmaɪnhɑːrt/ GHERR-ik MYNE-hart; born July 27, 1990)^[1] is an American right-handed foil fencer.^[2] Meinhardt is a two-time individual NCAA champion, 12-time team Pan American champion, three-time individual Pan American champion and 2019 team world champion. A five-time Olympian, Meinhardt is a two-time team Olympic bronze medalist. Meinhardt competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Meinhardt is one of two children born to Kurt and Jane Meinhardt.^[3] He is of Taiwanese descent through his mother.^[4] He attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco for two years and completed high school in a home schooling program.^[5] He attended the University of Notre Dame on a full fencing scholarship. He majored in business and finance, and was a member of the school's fencing team from 2009 to 2014. Gerek was employed by Deloitte Advisory before enrolling at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 2020.^[3][6] He married fellow American fencer Lee Kiefer in September 2019.

Introduced to the sport at age 9 through a program run by Olympic fencer Greg Massialas, Meinhardt began participating in national fencing competitions a year later.^[3][5] At age 16 he became the youngest men's national foil champion when he won the tournament at the 2007 U.S. Fencing National Championships.^[3]

By winning at the 2014 NCAA Fencing National Championships, he joined female fencer Lee Kiefer and swimmer Emma Reaney as part of the 2nd Notre Dame Fighting Irish trio to be named individual national champion in a single year and the 4th to be either individual national champion or national athlete of the year in a single year.^[7]

Ranked 16th in the world at the time, he participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as a member of the United States fencing team. He was the youngest fencer in Beijing and the youngest U.S. Olympic fencer of all time.^[5] At the 2010 World Fencing Championships in Paris, he won a bronze medal in the men's foil event, tying with Yuki Ota of Japan.^[8] After his gold medal win at the 2012 U.S National Championships, he was selected as an alternate fencer for the 2012 London Olympics U.S men's foil team. For the 2016 Rio Olympics he was selected as a member of the United States fencing team and won the bronze medal in the team foil competition. He again qualified for the United States fencing team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo where he won his second consecutive bronze medal.

Meinhardt is a member of the FIE Hall of Fame.^[9]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Team Men's Foil	3rd[10]
2021	Tokyo, Japan	Team Men's Foil	3rd[11]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2010	Paris, France	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[12]
2013	Budapest, Hungary	Team Men's Foil	2nd[13]
2015	Moscow, Russia	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[14]
2017	Leipzig, Germany	Team Men's Foil	2nd[15]
2018	Wuxi, China	Team Men's Foil	2nd[16]
2019	Budapest, Hungary	Team Men's Foil	1st[17]
2022	Cairo, Egypt	Team Men's Foil	2nd[18]

Date	Location	Event	Position
2013-03-16	Venice, Italy	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[19]
2013-05-04	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[20]
2014-05-03	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Men's Foil	1st[21]
2019-02-08	Turin, Italy	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[22]
2020-02-07	Turin, Italy	Individual Men's Foil	1st[23]
2021-03-26	Doha, Qatar	Individual Men's Foil	1st[24]
2023-02-12	Turin, Italy	Individual Men's Foil	1st[25]
2023-03-17	Busan, South Korea	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[26]
2024-05-18	Shanghai, China	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[27]

Date	Location	Event	Position
2008-06-13	Guarico, Venezuela	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[28]
2013-02-22	A Coruña, Spain	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[29]
2014-01-17	Paris, France	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[30]
2015-11-06	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[31]
2016-01-15	Paris, France	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[32]
2017-11-10	Tokyo, Japan	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[33]
2019-01-11	Paris, France	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[34]
2019-11-08	Bonn, Germany	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[35]
2023-05-05	Acapulco, Mexico	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[36]
2023-05-05	Acapulco, Mexico	Team Men's Foil	1st[37]
2025-01-12	Paris, France	Team Men's Foil	3rd[38]

Year	Location	Event	Position
2007	Montreal, Canada	Individual Men's Foil	1st[39]
2007	Montreal, Canada	Team Men's Foil	2nd[40]
2008	Querétaro City, Mexico	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[41]
2008	Querétaro City, Mexico	Team Men's Foil	1st[42]
2009	San Salvador, El Salvador	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[43]
2009	San Salvador, El Salvador	Team Men's Foil	1st[44]
2010	San José, Costa Rica	Team Men's Foil	1st[45]
2011	Reno, Nevada	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[46]
2011	Reno, Nevada	Team Men's Foil	1st[47]
2012	Cancún, Mexico	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[48]
2012	Cancún, Mexico	Team Men's Foil	1st[49]
2013	Cartagena, Colombia	Individual Men's Foil	1st[50]
2013	Cartagena, Colombia	Team Men's Foil	1st[51]
2014	San José, Costa Rica	Individual Men's Foil	1st[52]
2014	San José, Costa Rica	Team Men's Foil	1st[53]
2015	Santiago, Chile	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[54]
2016	Panama City, Panama	Team Men's Foil	1st[55]
2017	Montreal, Canada	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[56]
2017	Montreal, Canada	Team Men's Foil	1st[57]
2018	Havana, Cuba	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[58]
2018	Havana, Cuba	Team Men's Foil	1st[59]
2019	Toronto, Canada	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[60]
2019	Toronto, Canada	Team Men's Foil	1st[61]
2022	Asunción, Paraguay	Individual Men's Foil	3rd[62]
2022	Asunción, Paraguay	Team Men's Foil	1st[63]
2023	Lima, Peru	Individual Men's Foil	1st[64]
2023	Lima, Peru	Team Men's Foil	1st[65]
2024	Lima, Peru	Individual Men's Foil	2nd[66]
2024	Lima, Peru	Team Men's Foil	1st[67]

• List of USFA Division I National Champions
• List of NCAA fencing champions

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gerek Meinhardt.

• Gerek Meinhardt at the International Fencing Federation
• Gerek Meinhardt at USA Fencing
• Gerek Meinhardt at Team USA (archived July 11, 2022)
• Gerek Meinhardt at Olympedia (archive)
• Gerek Meinhardt at Olympics.com
• Statistics on Nahouw.net at the Wayback Machine (archived February 1, 2014)