Mariel Zagunis, a four-time U.S. Olympic medalist fencer, is pregnant with her first child, due in October, and plans to return for a fifth Olympic run.
Zagunis, 32, is one of only two Americans to earn Olympic fencing gold, winning the sabre in 2004 and 2008.
She lost in the semifinals in 2012 and the round of 16 in Rio but rebounded last summer to help the U.S. to bronze in the team event.
Zagunis was unsure in August if she would continue on to 2020, but now that appears certain.
“I definitely see Tokyo in my future,” Zagunis said in December, according to the Portland Tribune. “I’m not fulfilled. That’s part of who I am. I always want to keep going. I always want to do more. It’s a blessing and a curse to feel dissatisfied with not winning all the time.”
She competed once since Rio, taking bronze at a World Cup event in China in March in an early stage of her pregnancy.
Come Tokyo, Zagunis will be 35, which is older than any U.S. Olympic fencer since the 1996 Atlanta Games.
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