2016 Rio Olympics: Team USA ends 32-year medal drought in fencing competition

Alexander Massialas was expected to win gold in the foil competition, but settled for silver

By Brandon Wise

Aug 7, 2016 at 5:34 pm ET • 1 min read

American Alexander Massialas has done something no member of Team USA has done in the Olympics since 1984. The 22-year-old from San Francisco earned a silver medal in the fencing foil competition on Sunday after falling to Italian Daniele Garozzo in the finals.

Massialas is ranked No. 1 in the world, but had problems in the quarterfinals earlier in the day. He was down 14-8 and one point away from being eliminated, but Massialas pulled off a massive comeback to advance to the semis.

"I felt like every touch, one by one, I could actually do it," Massialas said per USA Today. "Never give up and I just fought my hardest and left it all out on the strip."

.@AMassialas takes home silver for @TeamUSA in Individual Foil! #fencing #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/QTbtS3J4dC
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 7, 2016

It was the first medal for the United States in fencing at the Olympics since Peter Westbrook took home bronze in the individual sabre competition at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.