Miles Chamley-Watson

Miles Chamley-Watson was born in London. He is of Jamaican, Irish, British, and Malawian descent.[2][3] He spent the first eight years of his life as a resident of the UK until he and his family moved to the United States. Upon arriving to the US, Chamley-Watson and his family settled in New York City, where he began fencing one year later, at the Knox School in Saint James, New York.[4] After spending four years in New York City, Chamley-Watson and his family settled in Philadelphia.

Chamley-Watson earned a full scholarship to the Pennsylvania State University in the year 2008. During his tenure at Penn State, Chamley-Watson majored in Sports Management, where he transferred what he had learned and what he was continuing to learn from the sport of fencing to help boost his knowledge in his area of study.

Chamley-Watson entered the 2012 Summer Olympics as the No. 2 ranked foil fencer. His first round in the games he was presented a bye into the next round. In the second round, Chamley-Watson fenced Alaaeldin Abouelkassem, an opponent representing the country of Egypt, and was defeated 15 – 10. Abouelkassem went on to earn the silver medal in the event. In the team event, the United States beat France 45–39 in the quarterfinals, but lost 24–45 to Italy in the semi-final. In the bronze medal fight, the United States lost 27–45 to Germany.

At the 2013 World Championships, Chamley-Watson became the first male US fencer to win an individual gold medal at the World Championships.[5]

At the 2016 Olympics, Chamley-Watson again lost in the second round, this time to Russia's Artur Akhmatkhuzin, 13–15.[6] In the team event, the United States beat Egypt 45–27 in the quarterfinals, before losing 41–45 to Russia in the semi-finals. In the bronze medal match, the United States beat Italy 45–31.

During a match in his World Championships debut, Chamley-Watson wrapped his arm around the back of his head and struck his opponent in the chest with his foil. It was the first time a fencer had ever used this kind of behind-the-back flick in a competition.[7] Unsure of its legality, the referee stopped the match to check the move on video replay. After it was determined to be legitimate, Chamley-Watson was awarded his own signature fencing move, eponymously named 'the Chamley-Watson'.[8]

In March 2021, during the Doha Grand Prix, Chamley-Watson suffered an injury during a match when his right knee was hit by his opponent’s foil, causing severe blunt trauma to the knee cap and almost breaking it. His knee injury caused him to be out for the remainder of the season and, consequently, miss the 2020 Summer Olympics. Chamley-Watson spent the following months recovering.[38]

This was the first injury of Chamley-Watson’s career.[39]

Chamley-Watson has recently been involved in voters rights, participating the ID check with VoteRiders and urging his followers to do the same.[40]

• List of Pennsylvania State University Olympians
• List of USFA Division I National Champions

• Miles Chamley-Watson at the International Fencing Federation
• Miles Chamley-Watson at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)