Et is often that certain something that makes people interesting. And sometimes successful. This is how the individual personality of epee fencer Alexandra Ndolo shows itself in her special discipline: epee fencing. “She has special moves,” describes her trainer Dominik Czobó Ndolo’s style – which results from the fact that the former track and field athlete only started fencing at the age of 21. “It made no sense that I imitated the Russian or Italian fencing school,” says the latecomer herself about her technical repertoire, which she gradually put together from various building blocks – and the fruits of which she now reaped at the Fencing World Championships in Cairo: She won the silver medal this Monday. At 35 years old.
Unexpected or not? “I wasn’t surprised,” said national coach Czobó: “I know what potential she has. Alexandra belongs to the top level.” On the other hand, his best student, three years older than the coach, only started the World Cup competition from 37th place in the world rankings. There Ndolo was seeded in 17th position in the peloton. And in the course of the five knockout rounds up to the final, he faced the numbers one, three and six in the rankings, among others.
“A day when everything worked out”
But the outsider from Bayreuth, who is fighting for Bayer Leverkusen, did not let the supposedly overpowering ones throw her off her stride. In the second fight, Ndolo defeated the strong Korean Young Mi Kang 15:11, in the round of 16 her teammate, the world number one Injeon Choi, even 15:9. And finally, the two-time world champion Rosella Fiamingo from Italy had to give up her stabbing weapon in the semifinals after a 10:15.
Alexandra Ndolo (left) even beats Italy’s star fencer Rossella Fiamingo
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Image: EPA
“It was a day when everything went well,” Czobó analyzed Ndolo’s overall performance the morning after. She was concentrated and “strong in the head” praised the national coach from Hungary. His homeland is another of the traditional fencing nations. And his style is always characterized by a certain seriousness, also known as dedication. And Alexandra Ndolo, who has a Kenyan father, a Polish mother and a German stepfather, also integrated this persistence into her personal mix. “She started late,” says her trainer, “but she works a lot and has caught up on all the deficits.”
And in all seriousness, fun is also part of being a successful athlete. Ndolo draws this from the scenery, the light and the atmosphere during her performances on the planche, the catwalk of fencing. “I’m a bit of a stage pig,” she describes herself with a laugh. The bigger the hall, the brighter the spotlights, the louder the audience, the higher their motivation. “The big tournaments are mine,” she says, recalling having already won two European Championship medals in 2017 and 2019.
The only thing she hadn’t made the long-awaited leap to the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 was less due to her ability than to the damned qualification system. In addition to the eight best teams with three fencers each and the top six in the individual world rankings, there were only a few places left for soloists, including one for Europe. She failed at this hurdle in the final and was “sad and disappointed” afterwards – but saw no reason to give up. “That motivated me all the more,” she said, certain that hard work will eventually pay off.
Even in the current World Cup season, the 1.80 meter tall sports soldier had “fought interestingly”, as she put it herself: “I tried my hand at fine-tuning”, which is known to take time, but did not change her individual style, but it only refined. “I like being unpredictable.” In her mid-thirties, her core competencies include “passion, a positive attitude and perseverance” – she even refers to this triad on her homepage. She also describes herself as “ambitious”, but not as “dogged”. And that’s why she was now a bit annoyed that so many people met her with a “too bad”, “almost” or “only silver” after the greatest success of her career.
Sure, in the final against Sera Song, the third strong Korean of the day, number two in the world rankings, she missed a single goal to achieve great success. It was 10:10 after the clock had run out. In the overtime, the German dared a last push eleven seconds before the end of the game, which just missed the target. The counter hit. She had lost. “For a second I thought you could have put that one too,” said Ndolo, “but I’m by no means disappointed, I’m really happy”. And then asked all the complainers whether they could imagine that: “Maybe I’m really satisfied?”
