Peter Westbrook, who became the first Black fencer to win an Olympic medal for the U.S., then started a New York City fencing academy that produced many Olympians and made a profound impact on even more lives, has died at age 72.
Westbrook died due to complications after a long cancer battle, according to the Peter Westbrook Foundation, the nonprofit fencing organization that Westbrook started in 1991.
“Peter was not only the leader of this organization; he was the consummate embodiment of dedication to athletic excellence, civic engagement, and youth mentorship,” foundation chairperson Robert Cottingham, a 1988 and 1992 Olympic teammate of Westbrook, said in a statement. “His inimitable spirit will be greatly missed by all of the athletes, families and staff of PWF. Peter’s unyielding dedication to cultivating scholar-athletes was demonstrative of his life’s purpose.”
Westbrook, born to a Japanese mother and a Black American father, competed at the Olympics in 1976, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996, plus made the team for the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.
In 1984, he earned individual sabre bronze at the Los Angeles Games.
It was the first U.S. fencing medal since 1960 and would be the last until the 2004 Athens Games. In 1992, he was the Closing Ceremony flag bearer.
“Peter Westbrook was a legend both on and off the fencing strip,” USA Fencing CEO Phil Andrews said in a statement. “As a six-time Olympian and 13-time U.S. National Saber Champion, he inspired generations of fencers. Through the Peter Westbrook Foundation, he transformed lives, creating opportunities for underserved communities to experience fencing.”
Westbrook created the Peter Westbrook Foundation during his competitive career to provide opportunities for aspiring minority fencers.
“I viewed the venture as an opportunity to teach inner-city kids life skills,” Westbrook wrote in his 1998 memoir, “Harnessing Anger: The Inner Discipline of Athletic Excellence.” “I wanted to teach them how to win and lose, deal with stress, control their emotions, and strive for excellence.”
Olympic fencers who came through the foundation included siblings Erinn and Keeth Smart, who won team silver medals on consecutive days at the 2008 Beijing Games; Ibtihaj Muhammad, who won team sabre bronze at the 2016 Rio Games as the first athlete to wear a hijab while competing for the U.S. in the Olympics, and Lauren Scruggs, who took team foil gold and individual foil silver in Paris as the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic fencing medal for the U.S.
“Being a part of the PWF has shaped me into the person I am today,” Scruggs said in a statement. “Through Peter’s program, wisdom, and unwavering support, I learned how to become my best and truest self on and off the piste. I learned how to find my confidence in a world aimed at tearing it down, I learned the passion and fight needed for success, lessons which I used on the Olympic stage, and last, I learned the profound impact of community — its influence evident every Saturday at PWF. While Peter may not be here today, his legacy and spirit live on in all whose lives he touched. Generations of fencers and coaches will continue to embody his spirit for fencing, and I am certain of that.”
