Eleanor Harvey

Biography

In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Eleanor Harvey defeated the world’s number one ranked fencer to advance to the quarterfinals of the women’s individual foil event. With her seventh-place finish, Harvey achieved Canada’s best-ever Olympic result in an individual fencing event.

That came one year after she helped Canada win women’s team foil gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. Harvey went on to compete in individual foil at the next Pan Am Games in 2019 in Lima, winning a bronze medal. She would also win medals in two team events – silver in team foil and bronze in team sabre. Harvey was a double silver medallist in both the individual and team foil events in her third Pan Am Games at Santiago 2023.

In her second Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020, Harvey reached the Table of 16 in individual foil and helped Canada to a fifth-place finish in team foil.

Harvey has a wealth of international experience. That includes six appearances at the FIE World Junior Championships where she won individual foil silver in 2014 and 2015. She has competed at the senior FIE World Championships each year since 2014 and posted a top result of ninth in 2018, which she matched in 2022.

Harvey began competing at the senior Pan American Championships in 2012. She earned her first individual foil medal at the continental championships in 2019 when she took bronze. In 2022, Harvey was a double gold medallist in both the individual and team foil events at the Pan American Championships. The team repeated as gold medallists at the 2023 Pan American Championships. That followed four straight team silvers from 2016 to 2019.

In 2018, Harvey became the first Canadian women’s foil athlete ever to win a FIE Grand Prix medal, finishing third at an event in Shanghai that featured 47 of the top 50 ranked fencers in the world. She earned a Grand Prix silver medal in May 2022 in Incheon. South Korea. Harvey earned her first FIE World Cup podium in January 2022 when she won a silver medal in Poznan, Poland.

Competing collegiately for The Ohio State University Buckeyes, Harvey won the NCAA Championships as a junior in 2016. In 2017 she ended up in a tie for third at the NCAA Championships.

A Little More About Eleanor

Getting into the Sport: Started fencing at age 10… When she was young she wanted to be an Olympian in something; a friend recommended fencing and she was pretty good right away which let her know she could eventually compete for Canada… Outside Interests: Graduated from Ohio State University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and gender studies… Enjoys going out with friends, eating international cuisine, yoga, drawing, and coffee shops… Started a small business, Lennygarb, putting her original designs on Canadian made and upcycled revamped clothing… Odds and Ends: Sherraine Schalm, Canada’s most successful fencer, has always been a role model for her long career and her joy for fencing… Collects Starbucks mugs for her mother from her international travels… Competed alongside teammate Alanna Goldie at The Ohio State University after coming up through the Canadian system together… Nickname: E… Received a Murphy Family Award from the Canadian Olympic Foundation in 2022.