- Meticulously focusing on gold, wheelchair-bound Schmidt leaves others in awe.
Maurice Schmidt clinched the gold medal in wheelchair fencing at the Paris Paralympics, largely due to the meticulous training by his coach, Alexander Bondar. "We pinpointed our opponents' vulnerabilities perfectly," Bondar stated. "I'm more of a data guy. At my end, it's four hefty binders filled with research." They scrutinized the strengths and weaknesses of prospective contenders for approximately two weeks each, as per Bondar.
"He had a significant impact. Every session was crucial. In every bout, we focused on specific strategies I should employ against the upcoming adversary, and those tactics proved effective," Schmidt acknowledged.
Bondar highly commended his 25-year-old protege. "Maurice is still young but incredibly driven and disciplined. That's crucial," he said. "He understands that he doesn't need to seek answers often, he just needs to act upon them."
Schmidt defeated the British fencer Piers Gilliver 15-8 and is set to compete with the saber on Friday, along with the foil. "Don't overlook him in those events either. Anything could happen. He might not bag any trophies, but there's also a possibility he'll bag gold," Bondar hinted. "We've also readied binders for those events."
Maurice's triumphant victory earned him the prestigious gold medal in wheelchair fencing. With this victory, Schmidt became a formidable contender in both the saber and foil events.
