Fencing Champion Graduates with a Degree in Biology

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My name is Iman Blow, from Brooklyn, New York.
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I am a senior now at Columbia College studying biology,
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and I'm on the women's fencing team.
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I started fencing because my brother's camp friends told us
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about a program called the Peter Westbrook
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Foundation, in New York City.
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And I have a twin brother, and the head
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of the program, Peter Westbrook, said that we have potential.
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And so we started the program together.
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My brother quit after a month.
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My dad told me I had to keep going.
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And then I started fencing then until now.
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And it's really that program that
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actually led me to Columbia.
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I started off losing three out of my first seven matches,
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and last season I only lost three
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matches when I won my individual title.
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And at that moment I realized that,
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not only was my own individual success at risk,
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but I might jeopardize this victory for the team.
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After that, I only lost one more match,
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and I remember I actually won the match that
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clinched the title.
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My next goal is the Olympic trials.
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I actually leave next Wednesday for the first Olympic trial
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in Tauberbischofsheim, Germany.
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Interestingly enough, I have my second Olympic qualifier
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in Shanghai, and I get back at 6 PM the day before I graduate.
Topic:

Iman Blow (CC’19) is a champion many times over: twice an NCAA national fencing team champion in foil, two-time first team All-American, First Team All Ivy, 2018 NCAA women’s foil champion.

A fierce competitor, her win/loss record at Columbia 173-38, 42-8 in senior year. She graduates with a degree in biological sciences, and plans to go into medicine. But first, she'll compete to gain a spot on the 2020 U.S. Olympic fencing team.