'Tenacity and will' guided Eleanor Harvey's lifelong journey to milestone fencing medal

You could see the shock in her face.

Eleanor Harvey had just won Canada's first-ever fencing medal, a bronze in women's individual foil, and she fell to her knees in celebration, her mouth agape.

Minutes later, in her post-game interview, Harvey still could not come to grips with her victory.

"I feel like I'm in a dream. I feel like somebody spiked my drink or something. That's a joke. Sorry, I'm not funny right now. I'm in shock," she said.

Harvey's podium appearance marked the culmination of nearly two decades of work in the sport. She'll compete once more in Paris in the team foil event when Canada takes on France in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 5:50 a.m. ET at the Grand Palais.

But her journey wasn't always easy.

WATCH | Harvey wins historic medal for Canada:

Fencing bronze medallist Eleanor Harvey speaks to CBC Sports after her historical achievement

1 month ago

Duration 3:30

Eleanor Harvey of Hamilton, Ont., looks back at her fencing bronze medal in women's individual foil at Paris 2024.

Harvey's mom, Lise Graydon, who was with her for the medal moment, sold her house to fund her daughter's fencing future.

"We had to move in with my grandma. My grandma would sleep on a couch, so that I could have a bed. So it's not just my mom," Harvey, the 29-year-old of Hamilton, Ont., said.

The barrier to entry, then, can be high. For Harvey's family, it required sacrifice and determination.

"She went through those challenges that a lot of rich kids don't need to go through. Therefore, she's way stronger," said Peter Ho, a coach at the Toronto Fencing Club who spent time with Harvey as a young athlete.

Ho recalled joining Harvey at a youth event when she was 10. Harvey won silver but she wasn't satisfied.

"I said why are you not happy?" Ho recalled. "She said my goal is to make Canadian history and medal in [the] Olympics. At the age of 10. It separates her from the others in terms of her dream at young age."

Determination shines through

Nineteen years later, the dream has been achieved.

Harvey earned a full-ride scholarship to Ohio State and made her Olympic debut at 2016, when she earned a stunning victory over presumptive favourite Arriana Errigo of Italy before falling in the quarterfinals. In Tokyo, Harvey lost in the Round of 32 to eventual gold medallist Lee Kiefer of the U.S.

But it's not in Harvey's DNA to give up, said Fencing Canada high-performance director Igor Gantsevich, who is in Paris with the team.

"When things don't come easy to you and when you face adversity and competition, sometimes those things help you. There's so many stories of athletes that fought and clawed their way to their elite status and what the parents did for them," Gantsevich said.

"And Eleanor is one of those stories that her loving mom supported her from day one and they did everything possible for the kid to have success."

WATCH | Hear from Eleanor Harvey after her landmark medal:

Eleanor Harvey claims bronze for Canada's 1st-ever Olympic fencing medal

1 month ago

Duration 29:12

Eleanor Harvey of Hamilton, Ont., bested Alice Volpi of Italy in the women's foil individual bronze medal bout to claim Canada's first-ever Olympic medal in fencing.

Gantsevich said it's Harvey's "tenacity and will" that makes her stand out.

"She does not stop working. We sometimes have to tell her like, hey, enough, slow down. So that's a special type of athlete," Gantsevich said.

Likewise, Ho said Harvey's "strong mind" gives her an edge on opponents.

"[Fencing is] not like team sports that you can have a partner that you can count on, rely on. It's all about yourself. How you can pull yourself out when you are under difficult situations," he said.

Ho added that Harvey also carries the necessary physical traits to excel in fencing namely her long reach.

He said athletes' development in fencing often takes a long time, with many choosing to leave the sport before reaching their potential. Often, athletes will drop fencing when they reach university to focus on class.

Not Harvey "she's very different from others," Ho said.

Affecting next generation

The hope now is that Harvey's determination will filter down to the next generation of Canadian fencer, who can now see what's possible.

Gantsevich, who owns the Dynamo Fencing club in B.C., said that already a pair of five-year-old girls have shown up asking to try the sport and citing Harvey as their inspiration.

"For our sport, that's gonna give so much profile and for a Canadian young girl or boy to wake up one day and say I want to be at the Olympics in fencing and not wake up and say I want to be in the NHL is pretty special to us," he said.

He noted that even since Tokyo, Canadian fencing has grown to the point where an additional national competition has been added and there's even a training centre in Yukon.

First, though, Harvey will attempt to make more history in the team event. And she'll have her mom right next to her once again.

"She's made a lot of sacrifices for me. In Tokyo, she couldn't be there, because no one could be there. So it's really, really cool that she was able to be here and watch me have the best fencing result of my life."