Olympic Update: Maximilien Chastanet Wins Bronze With France, Eleanor Harvey Just Misses Podium For Canada In Team Fencing Events  

Ohio State alumni wrapped up a successful fencing event at the Olympics. 

Maximilien Chastanet earned a bronze medal fencing for the French team in the team foil event on Sunday at the Paris Olympics. Chastanet’s bronze medal was the second medal won by a former Buckeye fencer, as Eleanor Harvey won bronze in the individual foil event for Canada.

Chastanet competed with Ohio State from 2015-18 alongside fellow Olympian Fares Arfa from 2015-17, who represented Canada as an individual and in the team event, helping the team finish eighth in men’s sabre. 

After starting as an alternate, Chastanet competed in matches for the host country in its quarterfinal, semifinal and bronze medal rounds. 

Jumping onto the scene in France’s quarterfinal matchup with China, Chastanet went 2-0-1 in his first three bouts. He went 1-1-1 in France’s loss to Japan in the semifinals but helped France complete a comeback in the bronze medal match with a 2-0-1 record against the United States.

Eleanor Harvey came up just short of her second medal at the Olympics with Canada. Canada lost its last two bouts to finish in fourth place, but not without heroics from Harvey. Harvey came up with a 6-3 victory in the last bout of Canada’s match against France in the Quarterfinals to secure a 38-36 win.

Harvey and her teammates couldn’t find the same late-match magic in the semifinals against the eventual gold-medal-winning United States team, losing 45-31. 

In Canada’s bronze medal match against Japan, Harvey’s 2-0-1 record wasn’t quite enough as Canada lost 33-32.

Arfa made his Olympic debut last week with one of the biggest upsets of the entire fencing event, defeating three-time defending Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi in the first round of the individual event. Arfa continued his high level of play with records of 1-1-1 in the quarterfinals, 1-1-1 in the seventh/eighth place match and 3-0 in the first classification match.

As a team, though, Canada fell to South Korea, Egypt and the United States to finish in eighth place.

Each former Buckeye will go home from the Olympics with major accomplishments, with Arfa defeating Szilagyi, his first Olympic loss since 2008, Harvey winning an individual bronze medal, the first medal in Canadian and Buckeye fencing history and Chastanet leading the French team to a bronze medal.

Photo via Getty images.