By Andrew Coen
With the 2003 championship another notch on his belt, Tiomkin is looking forward to an even bigger challenge: making the 2004 United States Olympic fencing team. "That's what I've been training for," Tiomkin said not long after returning from the national championships July 6. "To represent the U.S. at the Olympic games would be amazing."
The national fencing title is one of many career accomplishments for Tiomkin. The 1999 Hewlett High School graduate won his first national title in 1999, and was a member of St. Johns' national collegiate championship team in 2001. The World Championships of Fencing will begin in late October in Havana, Cuba, and if Tiomkin's three-member national foil team fares well there, he will most likely be headed to Athens, Greece, next year.
Ranked No. 1 in the nation in the foil for much of the year, Tiomkin is currently ranked second. Whether he qualifies for the Olympics will depend largely on how his foil team, now ranked eighth in the world, performs at the World Championships. The worlds, Tiomkin says, count double for Olympic qualifying.
Besides team competition, Tiomkin and other fencers can also qualify for the Olympics on an individual basis, depending on their results on the upcoming World Cup tour, which begins in the fall. As is the case with team competition, the World Championships are twice as important as any other single event for individual competitors.
But Tiomkin is confident that he and his two foil teammates will qualify as a unit in Havana. "We're so strong," he said. "It's us three and then there is just everybody else. We're the hyper-elite team."
Tiomkin first took an interest in fencing at George W. Hewlett High School, at the urging of a friend who joined the school team. "My friend asked me to do it, so I joined," he recalled.
In Tiomkin's sophomore season, he started training with Michael Petin, a coach from Ukraine, at the New York Fencers Club in Manhattan. There he learned the finer points of the foil, one of three swords used in fencing.
"After the second lesson," Tiomkin recounted, "[Petin] said, 'You are really good and should stick with this.' He told me I could definitely be a national champion and be on the world team."
Tiomkin was named captain of the Hewlett squad that year, and he helped lead Hewlett to three straight Long Island titles from 1997 to 1999, capturing the individual county championship in his senior season. He was then offered a full scholarship at St. John's, where he enhanced his skills.
"When I first went to St. John's, I wasn't such a great fencer, but I improved a lot," Tiomkin said. "I worked pretty hard." Of the Red Storm's 2001 NCAA championship, he said, "That team was awesome. We came together as a group for two days against strong competition."
While working on a degree in marketing, which he completed last November, Tiomkin also competed on three senior national fencing squads from 2001 to 2003. The sport gave him the opportunity to travel to Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, China and South Korea. Though he was focused on fencing on his various trips, he was still able to fit in some fun. "It's business until the last day of the competition, and then we all go out and party," he said.
Tiomkin's training schedule is rigorous: He works out for four hours six days a week. "I don't have a social life," he joked. He attributes his work ethic to his current national coach, Simon Gershon, who coached the Soviet Union's national fencing team before emigrating to the U.S. 10 years ago. Tiomkin learned the Russian method of fencing, which is strategic and technique-oriented, in contrast to another style dominant in international competition, the German method, which is very aggressive.
"He's a workaholic," Gershon said of Tiomkin. "He definitely has the skills to make the Olympics."
Even if Tiomkin doesn't qualify next year, he won't let it stop him from pursuing an Olympic team spot in the future. "The Olympics is one of my many goals in fencing," he said. "I'd definitely be disappointed if I didn't make it, but it wouldn't stop me for 2008."
By then, no doubt, he'll be an experienced fundraiser as well. In order to make their Olympic dreams possible, Tiomkin and his fellow fencers must raise much of the money that allows them to travel to international competition. The U.S. Olympic Committee's funding of fencing totals just $26,000 per year, which covers only a fraction of the sport's expenses.
"We have a huge World Cup season coming up," Tiomkin said, "and we need money for equipment, money for coaches, money for trips" -- an estimated $700 to $1,000 per athlete per trip. "We definitely have money to work with, but to be able to do it comfortably ... would be great."
Tiomkin and his teammates raise money through a group called Athletes' Initiative which was started by another national fencing team member, Dan Kellner. Anyone interested in donating to the Olympic fund can contact Kellner at (917)443-9621 or e-mail him at dkellner@olympicinitiative.org.
