WITH a quick sign of the cross, 22-year-old Samantha Kyle Catantan entered the last bout of the women’s foil final during the Asia-Oceania Zonal Olympic Qualifier, held in the United Arab Emirates. She tied 14-14 with Kazakhstan’s Sofiya Aktayeva.
Limping from a knee injury from lunging for her 13th point, the student-athlete went for an aggressive play against the Kazakhstani competitor, earning her the point that would bring her to Paris.
Taking her helmet off, the young Olympian fell to her knees as she cried and was met with cheers from fellow Filipinos in the stands, becoming the first fencer in 32 years to represent the country at the prestigious international athletic competition.
Grassroots beginnings
Catantan was born on February 1, 2002, to Jon and Aileen Catantan and is the eldest of three other siblings: Ysah and Sophia, who are currently active members of the country’s national fencing team; while the youngest, Shanelle, has ambitions to train in the women’s sabre category.
Catantan was reportedly only 9 years old when she started training in fencing sponsored by the Quezon City Sports Enhancement Program (QCSEP). Her practices would take place in different barangay halls, public schools, and basketball courts, depending on the availability of the venues.
She entered the University of the East in high school and, during her final year in 2020, she would give the UE Juniors their ninth title and fourth gold at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 82 High School Fencing as the MVP.
Moving to Pennsylvania
With a major in accounting, Sam joined Pennsylvania State University after being recruited for their fencing team, to compete for the United States National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
According to Tiebreaker Times, the star athlete would debut at the NCAA Division I Fencing Championships, winning a third-place trophy and an All-American selection in women’s foil, the highest honor a student-athlete can receive in the competition.
This would be followed by a gold medal achieved during her sophomore year in the women’s individual foil category of the 2021 Garret Open.
Catantan would then be elected as the Penn State Nittany Lions’ team captain for the 2023-2024 season.
International success
She was only 15 when she would debut in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games (SEA) immediately nabbing a silver medal for her country in the individual women’s foil category. This would be succeeded by a pair of bronze medals in the individual and team women’s foil in the following 2019 competition.
At 17, she clinched a gold medal at the Asian Under 23 Fencing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand in 2019. Catantan then struck gold when she won the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Slight setback
After Catantan’s silver victory at the 32nd SEA Games in 2023, her continuous training would soon come to a halt due to a near career-ending ACL tear in the middle of her semifinal match in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The athlete persevered despite her knee injury to win the match even though she needed to withdraw from the finals and lose her chance of getting the gold.
This led to the fencer’s long healing and rehabilitation process for over 10 months. Despite the injury, she continued her responsibilities as her university’s team captain, but while her peers were training, she was re-learning how to walk.
Catantan made a comeback in the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifier even though she had lost multiple months for qualification due to her recovery. Equipped with her knee braces and the desire to win, she clutched herself a golden ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“With the injury and the little time left, I was kind of hopeless this year, but at the same time, I wanted to fence more, and I wanted to represent the Philippines in the Olympics,” she said in an interview.
Climb to the top
In an article by Tiebreaker Times, Catantan spent two and a half weeks of intense training in June in Italy before heading to France for the competition, wherein she will be checking in at the Athlete’s Village on July 25. She will be competing in the direct elimination Round-of-64 on July 28.
Her coach Amat Canlas said during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex that Catantan’s training involved practicing with the Italian fencing team. Everything was sponsored by Penn State.
Fueled by the determination to win and the support of her countrymen, all eyes are on Catantan as the first Filipino representative to fence at the Olympics since Percy Alger in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and Walter Torres in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
With reports from Prince Bryan J. M. Marquez
