On Oct. 26, a full house of Princeton students in Frist Theater laid their eyes on something many will only ever see on television: an Olympic Gold Medal. Donning the 529-gram medallion was junior fencer Maia Weintraub, who joined All-Nighter, Princeton’s late night talk show, as a featured guest.
Weintraub was one of just 20 total fencers sent to the Olympics by Team USA — representing as an alternate for women’s foil, who took home gold. With the culmination of years of work taking place in just one day, Weintraub has found it difficult to characterize the experience of winning gold.
“Thinking back to the events going on in Paris and being there it almost feels like it wasn’t me who did it — like a fever dream,” Weintraub told The Daily Princetonian. “Definitely leaving Paris itself created that sort of separation … but it’s always going to be really good memories for me and overall a really great experience,” she continued.
Weintraub recalled often finding herself starstruck in the presence of other Team USA athletes.
“The people I met were the people you see on TV. I saw LeBron James and had conversations with Coco Gauff. It was very unreal,” she said.
The USA women’s foil team beat both China and Canada en route to the gold medal match, where they faced off with top overall seed Italy.
Weintraub, as an alternate, had not played a single bout in either of the previous games heading into the final, but she was put in for teammate Jacqueline Dubrovich in a tactical move. Weintraub’s name was called on the world’s biggest stage — and she performed.
In two stellar bouts, she outscored her two opponents by a combined 11–5 score, winning 6–4 and 5–1 whilst securing the maximum points possible for her team to help them win gold.
“We worked really hard for that result and I could see the results coming out of the hard work,” Weintraub told the ‘Prince.’
Despite the tireless preparation, Weintraub was herself amazed by her performance.
“I was able to come off cold from the bench and be focused, but it was kind of mind-boggling for me to think, ‘Oh wow, I really did that!’” she said.
Having achieved the greatest feat in her sport at the highest level, Weintraub is now looking to take a step back.
“Looking back to then, I can say we prepared to the best of our abilities,” Weintraub reflected to the ‘Prince’ on those bouts. “Now I’ve tried to take a little break from fencing, I haven’t been training as much, and I can see a difference in my fencing now which for myself is less competitive.”
Now back on campus, Weintraub has had to readjust to the regular scenes of Princeton student life, with LeBron James nowhere in sight. She now finds herself focused on finals, junior papers, and getting back to NCAA fencing.
“I forgot the feeling of always having something on your mind, always being busy,” Weintraub told the ‘Prince’ about the adjustment back to college. “During my gap year I had stress, but it was a different type of stress — it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. Being at school there is always something to do and I think I’m just getting adjusted back into schoolwork.”
It is shaping up to be another busy year.
Weintraub is back training with Princeton for their regular in-season schedule as one of four women’s foil fencers on the team. With their season already underway, it’s the start of a long stretch to NCAA Championships in late March as Weintraub looks to reclaim her NCAA foil title which she won in 2022.
In their most recent meet, the Tigers faced No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Northwestern, No. 6 Duke, No. 10 Ohio State, and Air Force. Weintraub won all her matches, dropping just three bouts overall.
“I’m excited to look at fencing in a new perspective, I think before [at the Olympics] it was an extreme, competitive environment,” she said. “Obviously, now I still want to do the best for my team but there’s more of an aspect of fun, getting to compete with other people again.”
Weintraub, now a junior, is now looking forward to taking on a mentorship role for Princeton fencing.
“For the Princeton team there’s obviously new people on the team — freshmen — and it’s their first time in a collegiate setting and I think I’m just really excited to be a part of their journey and introduce them to this world that I’ve already had two years of experience in,” she said.
While Weintraub still has two more years of collegiate life to enjoy, she has her sights set on earning another gold medal on home soil at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic games.
“I am planning on continuing to fence until 2028 as of now, but it is a marathon not a sprint,” she said. “For this year I am taking a more ‘recovery’ approach — there’s still three more years after this and I want to take time for myself.”
Alex Beverton-Smith is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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