Gerek Lin Meinhardt ( ; born July 27, 1990) is an American right-handed foil fencer. Meinhardt is a two-time individual NCAA champion, 12-time team Pan American champion, three-time individual Pan American champion and 2019 team world champion. A five-time Olympian, Meinhardt is a two-time team Olympic bronze medalist. Meinhardt competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Early and personal life Meinhardt is one of two children born to Kurt and Jane Meinhardt. His mother is Taiwanese.
Meinhardt attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco for two years and completed high school in a home schooling program. He attended the University of Notre Dame on a full fencing scholarship. He majored in business and finance, and was a member of the school's fencing team from 2009 to 2014. Gerek was employed by Deloitte Advisory before enrolling at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 2020. He married fellow American fencer Lee Kiefer in September 2019.
Fencing career Introduced to the sport at age 9 through a program run by Olympic fencer Greg Massialas, Meinhardt began participating in national fencing competitions a year later. At age 16 he became the youngest men's national foil champion when he won the tournament at the 2007 U.S. Fencing National Championships.
By winning at the 2014 NCAA Fencing National Championships, he joined female fencer Lee Kiefer and swimmer Emma Reaney as part of the 2nd Notre Dame Fighting Irish trio to be named individual national champion in a single year and the 4th to be either individual national champion or national athlete of the year in a single year.
Ranked 16th in the world at the time, he participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as a member of the United States fencing team. He was the youngest fencer in Beijing and the youngest U.S. Olympic fencer of all time. At the 2010 World Fencing Championships in Paris, he won a bronze medal in the men's foil event, tying with Yuki Ota of Japan. After his gold medal win at the 2012 U.S. National Championships, he was selected as an alternate fencer for the 2012 London Olympics U.S. men's foil team. For the 2016 Rio Olympics he was selected as a member of the United States fencing team and won the bronze medal in the team foil competition. He again qualified for the United States fencing team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo where he won his second consecutive bronze medal.
Meinhardt is a member of the FIE Hall of Fame.
Medal record Olympic Games YearLocationEventPosition2016 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilTeam Men's Foil3rd2021 Tokyo, JapanTeam Men's Foil3rd
World Championship YearLocationEventPosition2010 Paris, FranceIndividual Men's Foil3rd2013 Budapest, HungaryTeam Men's Foil2nd2015 Moscow, RussiaIndividual Men's Foil3rd2017 Leipzig, GermanyTeam Men's Foil2nd2018 Wuxi, ChinaTeam Men's Foil2nd2019 Budapest, HungaryTeam Men's Foil1st2022 Cairo, EgyptTeam Men's Foil2nd2025 Tbilisi, GeorgiaTeam Men's Foil2nd
Grand Prix DateLocationEventPosition2013-03-16 Venice, ItalyIndividual Men's Foil2nd2013-05-04 Tokyo, JapanIndividual Men's Foil2nd2014-05-03 Tokyo, JapanIndividual Men's Foil1st2019-02-08 Turin, ItalyIndividual Men's Foil3rd2020-02-07 Turin, ItalyIndividual Men's Foil1st2021-03-26 Doha, QatarIndividual Men's Foil1st2023-02-12 Turin, ItalyIndividual Men's Foil1st2023-03-17 Busan, South KoreaIndividual Men's Foil3rd2024-05-18 Shanghai, ChinaIndividual Men's Foil2nd
World Cup DateLocationEventPosition2008-06-13 Guarico, VenezuelaIndividual Men's Foil3rd2013-02-22 A Coruña, SpainIndividual Men's Foil3rd2014-01-17 Paris, FranceIndividual Men's Foil3rd2015-11-06 Tokyo, JapanIndividual Men's Foil3rd2016-01-15 Paris, FranceIndividual Men's Foil3rd2017-11-10 Tokyo, JapanIndividual Men's Foil3rd2019-01-11 Paris, FranceIndividual Men's Foil2nd2019-11-08 Bonn, GermanyIndividual Men's Foil2nd2023-05-05 Acapulco, MexicoIndividual Men's Foil3rd2023-05-05 Acapulco, MexicoTeam Men's Foil1st2025-01-12 Paris, FranceTeam Men's Foil3rd2025-03-07 Cairo, EgyptIndividual Men's Foil3rd2025-03-09 Cairo, EgyptTeam Men's Foil2nd2025-05-04 Vancouver, CanadaTeam Men's Foil1st2026-01-11 Paris, FranceTeam Men's Foil2nd
Pan American Championship YearLocationEventPosition2007 Montreal, CanadaIndividual Men's Foil1st2007 Montreal, CanadaTeam Men's Foil2nd2008 Querétaro City, MexicoIndividual Men's Foil2nd2008 Querétaro City, MexicoTeam Men's Foil1st2009 San Salvador, El SalvadorIndividual Men's Foil2nd2009 San Salvador, El SalvadorTeam Men's Foil1st2010 San José, Costa RicaTeam Men's Foil1st2011 Reno, NevadaIndividual Men's Foil3rd2011 Reno, NevadaTeam Men's Foil1st2012 Cancún, MexicoIndividual Men's Foil3rd2012 Cancún, MexicoTeam Men's Foil1st2013 Cartagena, ColombiaIndividual Men's Foil1st2013 Cartagena, ColombiaTeam Men's Foil1st2014 San José, Costa RicaIndividual Men's Foil1st2014 San José, Costa RicaTeam Men's Foil1st2015 Santiago, ChileIndividual Men's Foil3rd2016 Panama City, PanamaTeam Men's Foil1st2017 Montreal, CanadaIndividual Men's Foil3rd2017 Montreal, CanadaTeam Men's Foil1st2018 Havana, CubaIndividual Men's Foil3rd2018 Havana, CubaTeam Men's Foil1st2019 Toronto, CanadaIndividual Men's Foil3rd2019 Toronto, CanadaTeam Men's Foil1st2022 Asunción, ParaguayIndividual Men's Foil3rd2022 Asunción, ParaguayTeam Men's Foil1st2023 Lima, PeruIndividual Men's Foil1st2023 Lima, PeruTeam Men's Foil1st2024 Lima, PeruIndividual Men's Foil2nd2024 Lima, PeruTeam Men's Foil1st2025 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilIndividual Men's Foil3rd2025 Rio de Janeiro, BrazilTeam Men's Foil1st
See also List of USFA Division I National Champions List of NCAA fencing champions
References
External links
Gerek Meinhardt at USA Fencing