Columbia Lions fencing
fencing team for Columbia University
The Columbia Lions fencing team is the intercollegiate fencing team for Columbia University located in Manhattan, New York City. The team competes in the Ivy League within Division I of the NCAA. The university first fielded a team in 1898, under the leadership of coach James Murray. The team is currently coached by Michael Aufrichtig.
The Blue Gym (or University Gym) is home to the Columbia Lion fencing team, located within the Dodge Physical Fitness Center on campus.
History
The team was founded in 1898, and won the Intercollegiate Fencing Association national championship six times, in 1898, 1913, 1914, 1918, 1919, and 1934.
It has captured the NCAA fencing championship 16 times, most recently in 2019. This is tied with the University of Notre Dame for the most NCAA fencing titles.
The team has also won 55 Ivy League Championships, last capturing both the Men's and Women's titles outright in the same year in 2019.
The team has produced a number of Olympians, including five in 2012.
Notable former fencers
Norman C. Armitage (born Norman Cohn; 1907-1972), 6-time Olympic fencer
Robert Blum (born 1928), 2-time Olympic fencer
Bob Cottingham (born 1966), Olympic fencer
Jacqueline Dubrovich (born 1994), Olympic fencer
Sherif Farrag (born 1987), Olympic fencer
Joel Glucksman (born 1949), Olympic fencer
Asher Grodman (born 1987), actor
Alen Hadzic was named as an alternate to the 2021 Olympic team, but was suspended by the United States Center for SafeSport (SafeSport) due to findings of an investigation following allegations of rape and other sexual misconduct; an arbitrator later reduced his sanction, allowing him to go to Tokyo, though he did not fence.
The public source identifies “Columbia Lions fencing” as fencing team for Columbia University. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Columbia, Lions and fencing.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5149757. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1898, 1913, 1914 and 1918.
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This entry incorporates text from “Columbia Lions fencing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.