Zagunis breaks through

ATHENS — Sabre gold medalist Mariel Zagunis clutched an American flag as the U.S. male fencers tossed her in the air, again and again.

Fencing tradition is that the winner gets tossed three times, but Zagunis’ teammates kept tossing. Who could blame them? It had been 100 years since an American fencer earned Olympic gold.

“We’re not such experts at it,” said American fencing captain Jeff Bukantz.

Until Tuesday, the last time an American fencer medaled was 1984, when Peter Westbrook took bronze in sabre. So it was doubly historic when Zagunis was joined on the podium by bronze winner and fellow American Sada Jacobson.

Zagunis, 19, and Jacobson, 21, also made history as the first American women fencers to medal in the Olympics. This was the first year in which sabre joined foil and epee as women’s Olympic fencing sports.

“It’s one for the history books now,” Zagunis said after defeating China’s Tan Xue 15-9 in the title match.

The incoming Notre Dame freshman, whose lives in Beaverton, Ore., relished the celebration. After her teammates set her down, she remained on stage, clutching the flag and saluting fans with her sword.

Entering the Olympics, Zagunis ranked second in the world, behind Jacobson, yet she was fortunate to be in the field at all.

When the original 64-player field was determined, based on World Cup results, Jacobson and 18-year-old sister Emily (ranked 10th) were the American sabre entries. But Zagunis gained the field several weeks ago when a Nigerian fencer withdrew.

Much of the pre-Olympics fencing attention was trained on the Jacobson sisters, who were in the same bracket and projected to meet in the final eight.

But Emily Jacobson lost to France’s Leonore Perrus. Sada defeated Perrus, but lost to Tan 15-12 in the semifinals.