Maia Weintraub’s father Jason has shot videos of his daughter fencing since she was just starting out in the niche sport. “We pulled up a video from when I was maybe 10 years old and I remember watching the bout and just thinking, ‘What are you doing?’” the Princeton University fencer laughed. “It’s just toddlers sort of toddling back and forth. I remember I asked him why did he keep me in the sport, and (he said) it was because it looked like I was having fun. I think that fun allowed for something more to grow.” Now, the Philadelphia native is taking her parents to Paris. Weintraub has qualified for her first Summer Olympics as part of the U.S. women’s foil team – the perfect opportunity for her dad to add to his video archives. “I’m sure he will have his camera with him,” Weintraub said. Seven Princeton fencers qualified for the Olympics, a program record. That includes five Americans, one quarter of the 20-member Team USA fencing contingent: Weintraub, Maia Chamberlain ’22 (women’s saber team), Katharine Holmes ’17 (women’s epee team), Hadley Husisian (women’s epee, individual and team) and Tatiana Nazlymov (women’s saber, individual and team). Sabrina Fang will compete on Canada’s women’s foil team, and Mohamed Hamza ’23 – ranked No. 4 in the world in men’s foil – is heading to his third Olympics, representing Egypt. It’s also Holmes’ third trip, but the other five Princeton athletes are making their debuts. It’s a point of pride for coach Zoltan Dudas, who took over at Princeton in 2006 and had no fencers compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Princeton captured its first NCAA co-ed championship in 2013, and the women’s team in particular has flourished, winning 10 Ivy League titles since 2010. Dudas, who has Olympic coaching experience himself, said Weintraub and Chamberlain are some of the most “creative” fencers he’s seen. “When you have that kind of fencer who is actually coming up with unpredictable kind of actions in critical situations, they both have a great level of confidence in themselves,” Dudas said. “As not a coach but as a spectator, I love to watch both of them on the strip to fence. It’s almost like an art, not just a fencing bout.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by USA Fencing (@usafencing) The three disciplines of epee, foil and saber each have their own sets of rules for how to score a point. In general, the goal is to touch your opponent on a valid target on their body in a race to 15. Fencing is extremely fast – among Olympic events, Dudas says only the rifle bullet moves faster – and therefore scored electronically. First-time viewers at home might need a minute to catch on, but slow-motion replay technology will make a difference. “What the two Maias are doing, saber and foil, those are really action-packed weapons,” Dudas said. “(You hear) ‘Ready, fence!’ and in saber, the next second somebody will score. And in foil, it’s also a lot of footwork, a lot of chasing, a lot of blade contact and a nice touch at the end.” Chamberlain took up fencing when her mother saw a camp being advertised in their native California. A “Star Wars” fan, Chamberlain was intrigued. “I was already fighting people in my house with lightsabers, so might as well put that energy somewhere more applicable,” she said. She was the only girl to stay the entire week and was encouraged to keep fencing throughout her childhood and teens. She picked Princeton for its balance of academics and athletics, and after winning the 2018 NCAA championship in saber, Chamberlain set her sights on the Olympics. Chamberlain planned two years off from Princeton to gain experience with the international circuit’s demanding schedule. COVID-19 disrupted those plans, but she returned to school to finish her architecture degree and shifted focus to 2024. “I really spent my everything to qualify this time around,” Chamberlain said. “I’m just really glad the hard work paid off.” Princeton’s Maia Chamberlain, left, talks with coach Zoltan Dudas, right, at the 2018 Ivy league Fencing Championships in Princeton. Chamberlain is on her way to the Paris Olympics, along with seven other Princeton fencers. (Princeton Athletics Photo) It’s common for athletes to take time off from school to train full-time for the Olympics. Weintraub and Husisian spent 2023-24 sharing an off-campus apartment and training together. Weintraub said it was “extremely special” that they both qualified for Paris. “It’s kind of amazing that we’ve been able to start this journey together from sort of an unknown position to now where we both have accomplished so much,” Weintraub said. “And being able to share the highs and lows with somebody, it’s made the journey less lonely and I think that’s definitely helped both of us.” They’ll know plenty of other fencers in France thanks to the Princeton connection. “Just the idea of being part of such a strong generation is very humbling and I love that I have a relationship with these people, so they’ve always been people that I can just rely on and feel comfortable with,” Chamberlain said. “I feel like I have a little family going into the Olympics, so it’s a little less daunting.” Maia Weintraub of Princeton, center, lifts her trophy into the air after the NCAA Division I Women’s Fencing Championship held at the Castellan Family Fencing Center on March 25, 2022 in Notre Dame, Indiana. (Marc Lebryk/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)