Keeth Smart

Keeth Smart (born July 29, 1978) is a U.S. sabre fencer who became the first American to gain the sport's #1 ranking for males. He is an Olympic medalist at the Beijing Olympics 2008.

Fencing career

Smart was born in New York City, New York. At the urging of his parents, he began to learn fencing at the Peter Westbrook Foundation, whose founder, Olympic sabre bronze-medalist Peter Westbrook, was his mentor.

Smart graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1996, followed by St. John's University, where he was the NCAA sabre champion in 1997 and 1999, and took second-place in 2000.

He was a member of the 1999 Pan American Games bronze-medal team, and has competed in the past 3 Olympic games. In the individual Olympic men's sabre competition, he placed 30th in the 2000 Olympic Games, 15th in 2004 and 6th in 2008, where he won the silver medal in the team event.

In 2002 and 2004, Smart won the US national sabre championship. In 2003, he became the first American to be named the top-ranked male sabre fencer internationally.

Personal life

Smart's sister Erinn is also a nationally ranked competitive fencer who started fencing with the Peter Westbrook Foundation.

In 2008, Smart suffered from a rare blood disease (ITP) that was expected to take his life within hours of the diagnosis. With treatment, he ended up being cured weeks before competing in Beijing. In the interim, however, his mother died of cancer. After winning the silver medal at Beijing, he announced his retirement from sports so that he may begin earning his MBA at Columbia University in Fall 2008. [http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=reu-fencingsmartdc&prov=reuters&type=lgns] He is married to Shyra Smart, who is also earning her MBA at New York University

ee also

*Fencing
*List of American sabre fencers

References

* [http://www.fencingmedia.org/viewathlete.asp?name=keeth_smart FencingMedia.org: Keeth Smart]
* [http://www.usoc.org/26_799.htm U.S. Olympic Team biography]