Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Fencing career  



1.1  High school  





1.2  College  





1.3  US Championships and rankings  





1.4  World Championships  





1.5  Olympics  





1.6  Pan American Games  





1.7  Maccabiah Games  







2 Personal  



2.1  Approach to fencing  







3 Editor  





4 Hall of Fame inductions  





5 See also  





6 References  





7 External links  














Albert Axelrod






العربية
Čeština
Deutsch
Español
فارسی
Français
Italiano
עברית
Magyar
Norsk bokmål
Polski
 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

(Redirected from Al Axelrod)

Albert Axelrod
Personal information
Born(1921-02-12)February 12, 1921
The Bronx, United States
DiedFebruary 24, 2004(2004-02-24) (aged 83)
The Bronx, United States
Sport
SportFencing
College teamCity College of New York
ClubSalle Santelli

Medal record

Men's fencing
Representing  United States
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1960 Rome Foil individual[1]
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 1955 Mexico City Individual Foil
Silver medal – second place 1955 Mexico City Team Foil
Silver medal – second place 1959 Chicago Individual Foil
Gold medal – first place 1959 Chicago Team Foil
Silver medal – second place 1963 Sao Paulo Individual Foil
Gold medal – first place 1963 Sao Paulo Team Foil
Silver medal – second place 1967 Winnipeg Individual Foil
Silver medal – second place 1967 Winnipeg Team Foil
Maccabiah Games

Albert "Albie" Axelrod (February 12, 1921 – February 24, 2004)[2] was an American foil fencer.[3]

He was a five-time Olympian for the US, won a bronze medal at the 1960 Olympics, and was the only American men's foil fencer to reach the finals at the world championships until Gerek Meinhardt won a bronze medal in the 2010 World Fencing Championships.[4]

Fencing career

[edit]

High school

[edit]

Axelrod was Jewish,[5] the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who had fled the pogroms, and grew up in the Bronx.[6]Aheart murmur kept him from participating in most sports, so his mother encouraged him to learn fencing at Stuyvesant High School in New York City.[4] After graduation in 1938, he studied with 1920 Olympic champion Giorgio Santelli and won amateur titles as a member of the Salle Santelli club.[7]

College

[edit]

Axelrod served in the US NavyinWorld War II, and then attended the City College of New York.[4] His college team reached the National Team Foil Championships in 1948, the same year he was U.S. Intercollegiate Fencing Association and NCAA Champion.[3]

US Championships and rankings

[edit]

He was ranked # 1 in the United States in 1955, 1958, 1960, and 1970, and was rated in the top ten 22 times in the years 1942 to 1970. Demonstrating exceptional dominance and skill in a sport where Americans had formerly lacked top competitors, he was a five-time winner of the National Foil Team Championship (1940, 1950, 1952, 1954, and 1958), and his team won the National Three-Weapon team crown five times (1949, 1952, 1954, 1962, and 1963).[3]

World Championships

[edit]

He was a member of the United States World Championship team four times. His best placing was fifth, in 1958.[3]

Olympics

[edit]

Most notably, Axelrod was on five U.S. Olympic Teams (1952–68).[7] His greatest athletic achievement was winning the bronze medal in Individual Foil competition at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[3] The entire USA Foil Fencing Team at the 1956 Olympics was Jewish, with the other Jewish fencers being Daniel Bukantz, Harold Goldsmith, Nathaniel Lubell, and Byron Krieger.[8][9]

Pan American Games

[edit]

He was also a member of four U.S. Pan American Games teams. He won three team gold medals, one team silver, and four individual silvers in Foil.[3]

Maccabiah Games

[edit]

Axelrod, who was Jewish, won many gold and silver medals in foil and sabre in his six appearances at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel, including the 1957 Maccabiah Games (where he won the gold medal in foil), the 1961 Maccabiah Games (in which he won a gold medal in individual foil, and a gold medal in team foil with Olympic teammate Byron Krieger), the 1965 Maccabiah Games in foil, and the 1969 Maccabiah Games.[10][11][3][12][13][14][15]

Personal

[edit]

Professionally Axlerod worked for the Gruman Corporation as an electrical engineer, but would drive to Manhattan to practice fencing three nights a week. He died of a heart attack at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx on February 24, 2004. He left a wife, Henrietta, one son, and a daughter.[16][4]

Approach to fencing

[edit]

"I have no purely defensive moves", Axelrod told The New York Times in 1966. "Everyone attributes my skill to the fact that I'm a physical freak, that I have tremendously fast reflexes. I'm not a natural athlete. When it comes to fencing, I'm completely synthetic. I had to practice arduously and break down into tiny components every move I make."[4]

Editor

[edit]

Axelrod was the Editor of "American Fencing" magazine (1986–90).[6]

Hall of Fame inductions

[edit]

Axelrod was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1973.[17]

He was inducted into the USFA Hall of Fame in 1974.[18]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Olympics Statistics: Albert Axelrod". databaseolympics.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
  • ^ "Saying Goodbye – Remembering those in the sports world who died in 2004". Sports Illustrated. December 30, 2004. Retrieved November 2, 2007.
  • ^ a b c d e f g "Albert Axelrod". Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  • ^ a b c d e Martin, Douglas (March 5, 2004). "Albert Axelrod, 83, a Champion in Fencing". New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  • ^ Taylor, Paul (2004). Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics: With a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medallists. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 9781903900871. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
  • ^ a b "Fencing Forum".
  • ^ a b "Albert Axelrod Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
  • ^ Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics : With a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medallists. Sussex Academic Press. 2004. ISBN 9781903900888.
  • ^ Vecsey, George (December 2, 2007). "A Righteous Recipe for Longevity". The New York Times.
  • ^ "Jewish Post 20 August 1965 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov.
  • ^ "Albert Axelrod". www.jewishsports.net.
  • ^ Israel Digest: A Bi-weekly Summary of News from Israel. Israel Office of Information. 1955.
  • ^ "History | Maccabi USA". April 14, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-04-14.
  • ^ "1969 Maccabiah Games Borack, Micahnik, Axelrod". Museum Of American Fencing.
  • ^ "U.S. Team Annexes Men's Track and Field Laurels as Maccabiah Games End; OVER-ALL HONORS GAINED BY ISRAEL Host Team Has 226 Points --Kiwitt, Relay Quartet Help U.S. Tally 197 Heat Bothers Athletes Aussie Takes Title". timesmachine.nytimes.com.
  • ^ "Albert Axlerod at 83 was Champion Fencer", Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, pg. 59, 6 March 2004
  • ^ "Elected Members". Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved November 2, 2007.
  • ^ Shaw, Andy. "Axelrod, Albert". US Fencing Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  • [edit]
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albert_Axelrod&oldid=1192017468"

    Categories: 
    1921 births
    2004 deaths
    American male foil fencers
    Fencers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
    Fencers at the 1956 Summer Olympics
    Fencers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
    Fencers at the 1964 Summer Olympics
    Fencers at the 1968 Summer Olympics
    CCNY Beavers fencers
    Jewish American sportspeople
    Jewish foil fencers
    Jewish sabre fencers
    Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in fencing
    Stuyvesant High School alumni
    United States Navy sailors
    International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees
    Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics
    Sportspeople from the Bronx
    American people of Russian-Jewish descent
    United States Navy personnel of World War II
    Competitors at the 1957 Maccabiah Games
    Competitors at the 1961 Maccabiah Games
    Competitors at the 1965 Maccabiah Games
    Competitors at the 1969 Maccabiah Games
    Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States
    Maccabiah Games silver medalists for the United States
    Maccabiah Games medalists in fencing
    Fencers at the 1955 Pan American Games
    Fencers at the 1959 Pan American Games
    Fencers at the 1963 Pan American Games
    Fencers at the 1967 Pan American Games
    Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games
    Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games
    Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games
    Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games
    Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in fencing
    Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in fencing
    20th-century American Jews
    21st-century American Jews
    Hidden categories: 
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
     



    This page was last edited on 27 December 2023, at 04:31 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki