Canadian women lead the world in hockey, curling, and now, fencing.
WHAT A SCHALM!
Sherraine Schalm is considered one of the best female épéeists in the world. Fencing is an umbrella term for three sword sports: In two of them, foil and sabre, elaborate rules control how you can score points. Épée, however, is pure combat—trying to land a thrust against your opponent with a long, straight sword before he or she does the same.
EN GARDE!
Canada has never won a medal in fencing in the Olympics. However, the thing about the Olympics is that they aren’t considered that important in the fencing world—the World Cup is. In 2005, Schalm became the first Canadian to medal in the International Fencing Federation’s World Championship, and, in 2006, the first to win the World Cup of fencing. She was a member of the 2004 womens’ Olympic épée team, which took fourth—the best Canadian Olympic showing in fencing after another fourth-place finish by the 1984 men’s épée team. Early eliminations in subsequent Olympics did little to tarnish her stature in the fencing world.
GETTING AROUND
Born in Brooks, Alberta, and now living in Toronto, Schalm got into the sport because of a junior high school teacher in Edmonton. She lived six years in Budapest to train and has competed across the globe. There were bumps in the road: She once forgot her passport just before leaving a tournament in Cuba (having “safely” stowed it under her mattress), only to have her coach reveal he had recovered it just before she thought she would be unable to board a flight home.
Schalm is married with a young daughter and considering becoming one of the few female coaches in the sport. An active writer with a second book in the works, she related in her memoir, Running with Swords, that she was born in fencing stance—with a clubfoot and hip dysplasia.