Mohamed Elsayed, Long Island University student athlete, placed bronze in the individual men’s épée bracket at the Paris Olympics.
Elsayed represented Team Egypt in France this year, where he earned the team its first medal of the Olympics when he beat Tibor Andrasfi 8-7.
In 2021, Elsayed finished in the top eight at the Tokyo Olympic Games and in 2018, he finished fourth at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. His improvement in recent years is a representation of his hard work and dedication to his training at LIU.
Elsayed is entering his third year at LIU this fall. LIU is a NCAA Division I school, which is the highest level of competition for school sports. He is the school’s first-ever active student to earn an Olympic medal.
Elsayed is a decorated fencer. He was named a First-Team All-American by the NCAA in 2022-23 and finished third in épée at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
“This is a monumental moment not just for our LIU fencing program, but for LIU Athletics as a whole,” said fencing head coach Dwight Smith.
Smith is the assistant coach for Team USA in addition to his role at LIU. Team USA did not qualify a team this year, but Team Egypt competed at the games in Paris.
The LIU Men’s Fencing Team is just two years old, and Elsayed’s achievement brings great recognition to the program.
“It is a testament of his ability that not only is he at the Olympics, but while he was in school he was improving,” said Smith. “That’s not really the case with most collegiate fencers.”
Elsayed is an international student from Tanta, Egypt. He moved to the United States to study at LIU with limited knowledge of English. At LIU, Elsayed majors in data analysis. He hones his skill in the sport while maintaining an impressive GPA.
“He is always one of the hardest working people in the gym and the fencing hall,” said Smith.
Long Island University is now the 115th NCAA school to have an active student-athlete win a medal.
