Nzingha Prescod

Nzingha Prescod (born August 14, 1992) is an American foil fencer, World Champion in foil at the 2008 and 2009 Cadet World Cups, bronze medalist at the 2015 World Fencing Championships, three-time medalist at the Pan American Games, and two-time Olympian. She has ranked as high as world # 5. Prescod was selected as an athlete director on the USA Fencing Board of Directors beginning in January 2021.

Biography

Team USA (from left: Nzingha Prescod, Sabrina Massialas, Nicole Ross, and Lee Kiefer) in 2015. Prescod, a daughter of Marva Prescod and Homer Richardson, was born in New York City, and was named after Nzingha Mbande (a 17th-century queen in what is now Angola, who fought against colonization by the Portuguese Empire). Her mother is a Vincentian lawyer. Fencing for Columbia, in 2010-11 she was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year, and First-Team All-Ivy League.

In 2016 Prescod was one of eight Olympians selected for a six-month internship with EY (the former Ernst & Young) through its Women Athletes Business Network. As of 2020, she was working in data analytics for EY.

Prescod was selected as an athlete director on the USA Fencing Board of Directors beginning on January 1, 2021, as the top vote-getter in a vote by athletes who represented the US at the Olympics or Paralympics, Pan American Games, or Senior World Championships. She said that in 2020 the organization's disciplinary decisions "reeked of lenience and favorability for the offender."