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UPDATED: 4:02 p.m. ET., November 30th, 2024
As we’ve come to understand year after year, day after day even, death is unfortunately an inevitable part of life. Still, as much of a fact as that may be, the blow of experiencing loss never gets any easier, nor does reporting on the subject in Black culture.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, Peter Westbrook, the first Black American to win an Olympic medal in fencing passed away. He was 72 years old. The New Jersey-born athlete was a product of Essex Catholic High School, where he trained in fencing with Dr. Samuel D’ambola, the founder of the school’s fencing program.
After high school, Westbrook attended NYU on a full fencing scholarship, earning a degree in Marketing, and trained under multi-championship-winning fencing coach Hugo Castello.
In 1975, Westbrook won the silver team medal and a bronze individual medal at the Pan American Games in Mexico City. He took home a silver team medal in 1979.
Five years later, Westbrook won an Olympic bronze medal at the Los Angeles Games in the individual saber. His win was notable for being not only the first time a Black American fencer won an Olympic medal but also the first time in more than 35 years that an American won an Olympic medal in fencing.
