Globe-trotting fencer now heading to Athens

By: DAVID HAMMEL - Staff Writer | Monday, August 9, 2004 10:04 PM PDT ∞

CARMEL VALLEY ---- The busy schedule Soren Thompson assembled to first reach and later prepare for the Olympics reveals the perfectionist personality that landed him a place on the U.S. Olympic fencing team. That he has completed his year of immersion in the sport feeling relaxed, confident and enlightened by his travels reveals the easygoing Carmel Valley native who, at 23, feels it was the perfect time to see the world.

Thompson has been out and about for more than a year now, having taken the year off from his studies at Princeton to focus on his fencing. To the perfectionist inside him, that meant going to the best training camps, competing at the best tournaments and seeking out the best training partners. Hardly any of it could be accomplished in the United States.

The bright-eyed, curious 20-something in him saw the byproduct of such an endeavor: The means to travel the world at an age when he was mature enough to undertake it and young enough to enjoy it without the restrictions of family or career.

"It's special for me to get this time to do that," said Thompson, who will make his Olympic debut in the men's epee individual competition on Aug. 17 in Athens, Greece. "I'm going to take the time that I can."

Where fencing is concerned, Thompson is first, and foremost, the perfectionist. He is known to have long, elaborate discussions with his coach regarding technique and strategy. He travels to more competitions than most, practices longer and limits his aspirations only to his next match in his next tournament.

Fencing is perhaps the perfect sport for Thompson. Deeply routed in technique, precise details and balance, it demands the type of repetitious, disciplined approach that Thompson has always been willing to commit to it.

"He seems to me to always be a guy who wants to go above and beyond," said Gago Demirchian, Thompson's coach at the Los Angeles International Fencing Center for more than a decade. "He's very critical about himself. He just won't relax until everything is correct."

That's the perfectionist side, the side that shuttled nearly two hours to Los Angeles a few times each week when he was a student at Torrey Pines High to work with Demirchian, the side that was rewarded with an eighth-place finish at the 2003 World Championships, a stunningly high showing for an American fencer.

Traveling was the byproduct of his obsession, the part that probably kept fencing from becoming a grind.

From early-January to mid-March of this year, Thompson traveled to a different country for competitions every weekend except one.

While other competitors periodically returned to the United States, he milled about the local areas, taking in the sights and sounds until the next tournament in the next country. As a Princeton senior majoring in the history of architecture, Thompson was enthralled by the nuances of each city he saw.

In Tunisia, he toured the ancient city of Carthage. In Cuba, he observed a culture most Americans will never see. He spent the early part of this year in Qatar and Kuwait. He has been "all over Europe."

Thompson hopes all the touring will benefit him at the Olympics, where the United States has not medaled in individual epee since 1928 or team epee since 1932.

"I think he easily can be in the top three," Demirchian said. "Because he has all the talent and all the ability. There is nobody that he cannot beat, just like he did (at the World Championships)."

Whatever the result, the side of Thompson that has learned to savor his surroundings will be in Athens, too. He plans to stay at the Olympic village until Aug. 30 so he can take part in the Aug. 29 closing ceremony, even though it's just days before he must report back to Princeton for the start of the fall semester.

"I'm going to stick around," he said. "It's my first one. I want to get the full benefit."

Contact staff writer David Hammel at (760) 740-3552 or dhammel@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.