RI Academy Training Next Generation of Olympic Fencers

RI Academy Training Next Generation of Olympic Fencers

Rhode Island could become home to two of the world's top Olympic fencers. Dominique Tannous, 15, and Morgan Partridge, 14, have established themselves as young sensations in their sport. Not quite ready for the Olympics in London, the students at East Providence's Rhode Island Fencing Academy (RIFAC) now have their sights set on the 2016 Games.

"I guarantee they're going to be successful athletes, they already are successful athletes in their age group," says coach and RIFAC founder Alex Ripa. "I guarantee they're going to be the ones people are looking at in 2016."

Tannous, representing her native Lebanon, won her first national tournament at the age of 12, the youngest athlete ever to win an adult tournament in the U.S. Partridge finished eight in the 2012 Cadet/Junior World Championships in Moscow. But while both were in the running for this year's Olympics, neither say they expected to make their respective teams. In four years, however, it could be a different story.

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Fencing events in London begin with the Women's Individual Foil on July 28th.