Anna Sivkova

Anna Vitalyevna Sivkova (; born 12 April 1982) is a Russian épée fencer, 2004 Olympic team champion., three-time World team champion (2001, 2003, and 2013) and European team champion in 2012.

Career

Sivkova discovered fencing at the age of 10 on the advice of a family friend, who knew a fencing coach. She took up the sport at SDUShOR (sports school) No.7 near the Borisov Ponds in Moscow, where she first practiced foil under the coaching of Lyudmila Vyazovaya. After a year Vyazovaya switched to épée; Sivkova followed the move. She was the only girl at her club, but she found that winning against boys motivated her. After two years of training she began to resent the hard discipline and left for a while; she came back when she realised she needed fencing to let off steam.

At the London Olympics, Sivkova defeated Jung Hyo-jung of Korea in the table of 32, but was stopped in the next round by Romania's Anca Măroiu. In the team event, Russia prevailed over Ukraine, then met China in the semi-finals. Sivkova entered the piste on the last relay with China on the lead. She levelled the score, but lost by one touch in overtime, and Russia came away with no medal. Deeply upset by these failures, Sivkova took a break and did not go back to training before January 2013.