10-year-old Virginia Beach fencer wins gold medal in Peru
Most 10-year-olds spend their last few weeks of summer swimming, hanging out with friends or playing video games.
Virginia Beach’s Alexandria Fan, on the other hand, fenced her way into a gold medal with Team USA on Aug. 22 at the Pan American Youth & Veteran Championship in Lima, Peru.
She placed first in the Youth B Women’s Saber tournament, followed by her teammates Ellie Kang and Joy Gong also making a spot on the podium.
Alexandria’s gold medal was just one of USA Fencing’s 23 gold finishes. The United States had 72 total medals, skyrocketing the team into first place.
Brazil finished with 16 medals overall, earning its second-place slot. All final results can be found on fencingtimelive.com.
“I had never been to Peru before,” Alexandria said after she returned home. “There were so many countries shouting in different languages the whole time. Most of the time, I was just thinking, ‘What are you guys talking about?’”
Alexandria’s mother and coach, Miracle Qi, couldn’t be prouder with her performance.
“I’m really proud and happy for her. I just felt like, ‘Wow! She really made it,’” Qi said. “Catching the dream is really hard. For Alexandria, it was a fight for herself.”
While Alexandria and Qi live in Virginia Beach, their training ground, Miracle Fencing Club, is located on George Washington Memorial Highway in York County.
Alexandria’s path to her gold medal began in the beginning of August, when Miracle Fencing Club made its mark at the USA Fencing National Championships in Minneapolis. Alexandria’s sixth place finish in the Y-10 Women’s Saber competition was actually her ticket to Peru.
Before coaching, Qi fenced for the Chinese national team. When she moved to America in 2009, she stepped away from the fencing world. Seven years later, she decided to open up York County’s first competitive fencing club.
When Alexandria was 8 years old, she picked up a sword and joined the club.
“When she was real little, she had been with me for a long time. Each time I was training, she always followed me,” Qi said.
While Alexandria may have a gold medal now, she didn’t always win. In fact, she used to finish in last place at every competition.
“For one and a half [years], she did really bad. I’d say, ‘Alexandria, I don’t think this sport fits you,’” Qi said. “She just stood there crying really hard and [said], ‘Oh mama, I want to try my best. I really want to get better, just give me one more chance. I’ll try real hard.’”
From that moment on, Alexandria took practice and preparation seriously. She was in the gym for two-and-a-half hour training sessions at least four times a week.
Alexandria even conquered the one thing she dreaded the most: watching her past matches on film.
“She always said she don’t want to see herself play,” Qi said. “I was like, ‘You have to because you have to look at how bad you move. You learn from your mistakes.’”
With Peru in Alexandria’s rear-view mirror, the gold medalist looked forward to starting fifth grade at Providence Elementary School on Tuesday.
When teachers asked her what she did over summer break, she knew her answer would be something special.
Abbey Crank, abbey.crank@virginiamedia.com
