State Links To London Olympics: Fencing

Sportspress Northwest offers another in a series of biographical sketches of athletes with significant ties to Washington at the Olympic Games.

No fencer with ties to Washington has won a medal in the Olympics. London will be the third Olympics for Seth Kelsey of Brush Prairie.

2012 FENCING OLYMPIAN

SETH KELSEY / Brush Prairie

BORN: Aug. 24, 1981, Santa Monica, CA. RESIDENCE: Colorado Springs, CO. SPORT: Fencing. EVENT: Epee. COUNTRY: USA. OLYMPICS (3rd): 2004, 2008, 2012. HOW QUALIFIED: Placed 32nd (280 in field) at the Paris Epee World Cup in March, 2012. STATE CONNECTION: Brush Prairie native.

Weston “Seth” Kelsey is one of Team USA’s most accomplished epee fencers. Now a three-time Olympian, Kelsey was a member of the first U.S. men’s epee team to earn a medal at a Senior World Championships — a silver at the 2010 Worlds in Paris.

A high school fencer for four years in Oregon, Kelsey continued the sport at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he received the Athletic Achievement Award and was a three-time fencing MVP.

Kelsey is a 2nd lieutenant in the Air Force who competes as a part of the World Class Athlete Program.

OLYMPICS: Finished 19th (individual) and sixth (team) in 2004; placed 17th (individual) in 2008.

CAREER —2012: Won a gold medal at the Team World Championships. 2011: Won gold at the Pan American Games as both an individual and as part of the USA team; placed 10th in the Senior World Championships. 2010: Won gold at the Sydney World Cup; won a silver medal at the Montreal World Cup; won a silver medal (team) at the Senior World Championship. 2009: Won bronze medals (team and individual) at the Lignano World Cup. 2008: Made history March 28 by finishing third at the Heidenheim (Germany) Cup. The podium finish marked the first time that an American earned a medal at the prestigious European tournament. 2004: Won a bronze medal at the World Cup stop in Estonia. 2003: Won a bronze medal at a 2003 World Cup event in Havana. (2002): Won national individual championship in epee.

PERSONAL: Attended Oregon Episcopal School . . . Has a Bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from the Air Force Academy . . . Enjoys reading, cooking and sailing. . . Favorite movie is “The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” . . . Favorite TV show is “House”. . . Role model: Meriwether Lewis, because he journeyed to places unknown and came back to tell the world about them . . . Parents are Morton and Susan Kelsey, who reside in Brush Prairie, near Vancouver, WA . . . Has has one sister, Holly, who attended Western Washington University.

Olympic Qualifiers

Athletes with connections to the state who have qualified (or been selected) for the London Games.