USC FENCING
Helene Mayer
At the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Mayer took the gold medal in the fencing event, winning 18 bouts and losing only two. In the same year, she also won the Italian national championship and by 1930 had been victorious six times in the German championships. World foil champion in 1929, 1931 and 1937, Helene Mayer came to Los Angeles in 1932 to compete in the Olympics (where she finished fifth in the individual foil). Learning that she had been expelled from her hometown Offenbach Fencing Club because of her Jewish blood, Mayer decided to stay in the United States. She enrolled at USC in 1933, earning a certificate in social work.
Helene Mayer returned briefly to Germany 1936, to compete for her country in the Olympic Games at Berlin. She won a silver medal. After the ceremonies were over, she returned to the United States where she became an American citizen and won the US foil championships eight times in all - in 1934 - 5, 1937 - 9, 1941 - 2 and 1946.
Helene Mayer's life has recently been chronicled in Millie Mogulof's "Foiled! : Hitler's Jewish Olympian : The Helene Mayer Story."
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