“We are part of an historic Olympics"...the Women’s Foil Dream Team competing in the Tokyo 'Pandemic' Olympic Games We’re celebrating 🇨🇦 Day🍁 by bringing you an interview from the Women’s Foil Dream Team that are going to the Tokyo Olympics (sometimes referred to as the Pandemic Games) in FEWER THAN 30 days! Here’s a quick insight in their own words…“we’re quirky all the time, banter is our middle name”. In this whirlwind of an episode we get to know 3 of the 4 that will be on the plane (Jessica unfortunately couldn’t make the interview), how it felt to qualify pre-Covid and how they have dealt with a requirement to train at an elite level when the world was locked down. Despite this, it brought them closer together as a unit. Something that was especially difficult considering that they were scattered around North America. This group is obviously close, aided by the fact that they don’t see each other as competition to one another, which enables them to push forwards as opposed to holding each other back. This summer's Olympics is a new chapter for most of the team with only Eleanor able to qualify for Rio 2016, which came with some surprisingly difficult emotions before any fencing had even started before going on to beat a legend of the modern game. They reckon that this experience will prove vital, which we don’t hesitate to believe considering comments from other Olympians that we have interviewed! Two of the big questions are, how will this Olympics be different to the others and what effect will this have? One thing is that they try not to look at the negative parts and focus on the fact that they get to go as a team. One key quote here is: “knowing the emotions that are to come and not freaking out when they happen” And in achieving what is a lifelong goal, Eleanor reflects on how reaching your goal doesn’t actually transform your life…something we can all relate to no matter the goal. We also touch on how female athletes have, essentially, been treated as small men and the implications of that. This directly translates into how women’s foil is different to men’s foil and how the wrong attitudes can be addressed...does this come from stigmas when starting to fence at a younger age and comfort in hitting others? Despite the challenges of 2020, it proved to be a fruitful time for the squad as they were all able to turn their other talents into some more serious projects. Eleanor started Lenny Garb, her own art and drawings on Canadian made and revamped clothing through embroidery and silk screens: Insta: https://www.instagram.com/lennygarb.revamps/ Website: https://www.lennygarb.com/ Alanna started paintings by Lanna, a business when selling her art when COVID fully hit: Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaintingsByLanna Insta: https://www.instagram.com/paintingsbylanna/ Kelleigh transitiones from a personal trainer to start her fencing specific strength and conditioning business: Insta: https://www.instagram.com/lionethik/ Website: https://www.lionethik.com/ As always, please continue to support us on our new Patreon page, follow us on social media and make sure to rate and review wherever you get your podcasts! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fencedinpodcast Insta: https://www.instagram.com/fencedinpodcast/ Twitter: https://Twitter.com/fencedinpodcast #fencing #tokyo #olympics #canada #🇨🇦#womens #foil #awesome #athletes #elite #art #strengthandconditioning #fencedin #🤺 #🇯🇵 #🗼#pandemic #games #pandemicgames #training A few mainstream places you can listen: Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/fencing-the-fenced-in-podcast/id1505770635?i=1000527508125 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7CETVuYkhXoyzQWAsrXzBD?si=q1yLdFucTCGL30H7X_nXPA&dl_branch=1