PARIS, France — Magda Skarbonkiewicz of Beaverton competed in her first Olympic Games as a fencer, where she was eliminated in the round-of-32 bouts on Monday.
Skarbonkiewicz was matched against Nisanur Erbil of Turkey, where Skarbonkiewicz fell 15-11. Skarbonkiewicz will compete again in the team event on Saturday, Aug. 3.
Erbil was later eliminated by Sara Balzer of France, who is currently competing in the women's individual saber semifinals.
Notably in the Olympic women's fencing competition, there is a current investigation into possible match fixing, but Skarbonkiewicz is not a part of this investigation.
Skarbonkiewicz was born in Portland and has been a competitive fencer since she was young. Skarbonkiewicz has won four total gold medals, as she is the two-time Junior Fencing World Champion and has won the Pan American games twice.
She specifically competes in saber, one of the three disciplines of fencing.
Skarbonkiewicz is a part of the Oregon Fencing Alliance and has trained under four-time Olympic medalist Mariel Zagunis. Apart from Zagunis, her father Adam has been her trainer. In 1996, he qualified for the Olympics in fencing. However, he couldn't compete due to being unable to convert his Polish citizenship in time.
Skarbonkiewicz has committed to continue her fencing career for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame University.
Though she was eliminated in the first round of the individual saber, the 18-year-old showed she can compete with the best of the best in fencing.