Sada Molly Jacobson (born February 14, 1983) is an American Olympic fencer. She is the 2008 Olympic Individual Sabre silver medalist in women's sabre (one of three Olympic medals), the 2004 Olympic Individual Sabre bronze medalist in women's sabre, and the 2003 Pan American Games champion in women's sabre. In 2016, she was inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame.
Background Jacobson was born in Rochester, Minnesota, and is Jewish.Day by Day in Jewish Sports History - Bob WechslerThe Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia"Sada Jacobson" Jewish Women's Archive Her parents are David Jacobson, a member of the 1974 U.S. National fencing team in saber who was an All-American fencer at Yale University and now an endocrinologist, and Tina Jacobson, who also fenced competitively.Ivy Women in Sports She is the sister of fellow U.S. Olympic team fencer and Junior World Champion Emily Jacobson, and fencer Jackie Jacobson.
Jacobson swam competitively for two years in high school. She postponed her college career to train full-time for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Her hometown is Dunwoody, Georgia, and she has lived in Atlanta, Georgia.Sada Jacobson, Brendan Bâby - The New York TimesThe New Yorker She graduated from The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2000. She graduated with a history degree from Morse College, Yale University. She studied history at Yale University.
Fencing career She trained at Nellya Fencers from a young age.Playing in Time: Essays, Profiles, and Other True Stories - Carlo Rotella She has been coached by Arkady Burdan of Nellya Fencers, and Henry Hartunian at Yale.
College & Under-19 career Jacobson was a 2-time NCAA sabre champion for Yale University (2001 and 2002).][http://www.southwestfencing.org/01-02/ncaafencing2002NCAA2002.html She won an NCAA Championship and earned 1st-team All-America honors as a freshman at Yale, after a 30–0 regular season. Jacobson was 29–1 as a sophomore, and repeated as NCAA champion. In addition, she was the 2001 Under-19 National Champion. In 2003, she won the World Junior Fencing Championships in women's saber.
Senior World Championships
Jacobson is a 4-time Senior World Championships team member (2000–03). She was a member of the gold-medal 2000 Women's Sabre World Championship team at the age of 17."Sada Jacobson" She won another bronze medal at the 2006 World Fencing Championships sabre competition.
In her first individual World Championships in 2001, Jacobson placed 12th. She placed 5th in 2002 and 2003."Sada Jacobson"
Pan American Games Jacobson won the gold medal in sabre at the 2003 Pan American Games.
National Championships Jacobson won the US women's sabre championship in 2004 (beating her sister in the final) and 2006.
She was ranked # 1 in the US from June 2003 through October 2005.
Number 1 World Ranking In 2004, at 19 years of age she became the first U.S. woman to be ranked No. 1 in the world in sabre, and only the second U.S. athlete to claim the title, after male fencer Keeth Smart. Olympic Women and the Media: International Perspectives
Olympic medals Jacobson won the bronze medal in women's sabre at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the first year that event was hosted at the Olympics. Her match took place before the gold-silver match, and therefore Jacobson became the first women's sabre Olympic medalist. She won the silver medal in individual sabre and bronze in the team sabre event at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Post-fencing career Jacobson indicated that she intended to retire from competitive fencing after the 2008 Olympic competitions concluded, and focus on law school, and starting life with her fiancé. She graduated with a J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2011. She and Brendan Brunelle Bâby, who graduated from Pennsylvania State University where he competed in épée and was a member of three NCAA championship teams, were married in May 2009 in Atlanta at the Nellya Fencers Club, where she had trained for both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. As of 2015, she practiced commercial litigation for McKenna Long & Aldridge.
Awards Jacobson, who is Jewish, received the Marty Glickman Award for the Outstanding Jewish Scholastic Athlete of the Year in both 2002 and 2005.Journal of the Senate She was named Academic All-Ivy League for 2002."Yale Academic All-Ivy Selections" - Ivy League In 2003 Jacobson was named the U.S. Fencer of the Year. Also in 2003, she was inducted in the U.S. National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, which recognizes outstanding Jewish athletes. In 2012, she was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. In 2016, she was inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame."USA Fencing Members Elect Hall of Fame Class of 2016"
See also List of select Jewish fencers List of Jewish Olympic medalists List of NCAA fencing champions List of USFA Division I National Champions List of USFA Hall of Fame members
References
External links
CNN: Olympic fencer inspires new generation
Jewish Virtual Library bio