Sada Jacobson

{{Short description|American fencer (born 1983)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox fencer | name = Sada Jacobson | birth_name = | fullname = | nickname = | nationality = | residence = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1983|2|14}} | birth_place = Rochester, Minnesota, U.S. | weapon = sabre | hand = left-handed | height = 5 ft 7 in<ref name="usfencing">{{cite web|title=Sada Jacobson|url=http://www.usfencing.org/page/show/693647-sada-jacobson|website=usfencing.org|publisher=USA Fencing|accessdate=15 April 2017|archive-date=August 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802083344/http://www.usfencing.org/page/show/693647-sada-jacobson|url-status=dead}}</ref> | weight = | natlcoach = | formercoach = | club = Nellya Fencers | headcoach = Arkady Burdan<ref name="usfencing"/> | country = | retired = 2008 | fieranking = [https://fie.org/athletes/6606 rankings] (archive) | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Women's sabre}} {{MedalCountry | {{USA}} }} {{MedalOlympic}} {{MedalSilver | 2008 Beijing | Individual sabre}} {{MedalBronze | 2004 Athens | Individual sabre}} {{MedalBronze | 2008 Beijing | Team sabre}} {{MedalCompetition|World Championships}} {{MedalGold| 2000 Budapest | Team sabre}} {{MedalGold| 2005 Leipzig | Team sabre}} {{MedalSilver| 2004 New York | Team sabre}} {{MedalSilver| 2006 Turin | Team sabre}} {{MedalBronze| 2006 Turin | Individual sabre}} {{MedalCompetition|Pan American Games}} {{MedalGold|2003 Santo Domingo | Individual sabre}} | show-medals = yes }}

'''Sada Molly Jacobson'''<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/fashion/weddings/17JACOBSON.html | work=The New York Times | title=Sada Jacobson, Brendan Bâby | date=May 17, 2009 | accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref> (born February 14, 1983) is an American Olympic fencer. She is the 2008 Olympic Individual Sabre silver medalist in women's sabre (one of three Olympic medals), the 2004 Olympic Individual Sabre bronze medalist in women's sabre, and the 2003 Pan American Games champion in women's sabre. In 2016, she was inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame.

==Background== Jacobson was born in Rochester, Minnesota, and is Jewish.<ref name=autogenerated2>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&dq=sada+jacobson+jewish&pg=PA231 ''Day by Day in Jewish Sports History'' - Bob Wechsler]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dwICJoLCfhQC&dq=sada+jacobson+jewish&pg=PT273 ''The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia'']</ref><ref name=autogenerated4>[https://jwa.org/people/jacobson-sada "Sada Jacobson" {{!}} Jewish Women's Archive]</ref> Her parents are David Jacobson, a member of the 1974 U.S. National fencing team in saber who was an All-American fencer at Yale University and now an endocrinologist, and Tina Jacobson, who also fenced competitively.<ref name=autogenerated6>[http://www.ivy50.com/womens/story.aspx?sid=2/15/2007 Ivy Women in Sports]</ref><ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/fashion/weddings/17JACOBSON.html | work=The New York Times | title=Sada Jacobson, Brendan Bâby | date=May 17, 2009 | accessdate=May 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author= Judy Fortin|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/15/hm.olympic.fencer.inspires/index.html |title=Olympic fencer inspires new generation |publisher=CNN|date=December 15, 2008 |accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref> She is the sister of fellow U.S. Olympic team fencer and Junior World Champion Emily Jacobson, and fencer Jackie Jacobson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fencing.teamusa.org/athlete/athlete/519 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080717020741/http://fencing.teamusa.org/athlete/athlete/519 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 17, 2008 |title=Sada Jacobson | Athletes | US Fencing |publisher=Fencing.teamusa.org |date= |accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref>

Jacobson swam competitively for two years in high school.<ref name="usoc.org">[http://www.usoc.org/11817_18764.htm ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230204121/http://www.usoc.org/11817_18764.htm |date=December 30, 2006 }}</ref> She postponed her college career to train full-time for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Her hometown is Dunwoody, Georgia, and she has lived in Atlanta, Georgia.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/fashion/weddings/17JACOBSON.html Sada Jacobson, Brendan Bâby - ''The New York Times'']</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vXYTAQAAMAAJ&q=%22sada+jacobson%22 ''The New Yorker'']</ref> She graduated from The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2000. She graduated with a history degree from Morse College, Yale University. She studied history at Yale University.<ref name=YDN>{{cite news |title=Fencer Jacobson '06 takes silver in Beijing |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24847 |publisher=Yale Daily News |date= August 10, 2008|accessdate=August 22, 2008 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080822033347/http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24847 |archivedate = August 22, 2008}}</ref>

==Fencing career== She trained at Nellya Fencers from a young age.<ref name=autogenerated5>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-hSslGC-hMC&dq=%22sada+jacobson%22&pg=PA61 ''Playing in Time: Essays, Profiles, and Other True Stories'' - Carlo Rotella]</ref> She has been coached by Arkady Burdan of Nellya Fencers, and Henry Hartunian at Yale.<ref name=autogenerated5 /><ref name=autogenerated6 />

===College & Under-19 career=== Jacobson was a 2-time NCAA sabre champion for Yale University (2001 and 2002).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hickoksports.com/history/ncaafencing.shtml |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2011-01-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020223000910/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/ncaafencing.shtml |archivedate=2002-02-23 }}][http://www.southwestfencing.org/01-02/ncaafencing2002NCAA2002.html{{dead link{{!}}date=March 2018 {{!}}bot=InternetArchiveBot {{!}}fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=autogenerated2 /> She won an NCAA Championship and earned 1st-team All-America honors as a freshman at Yale, after a 30–0 regular season. Jacobson was 29–1 as a sophomore, and repeated as NCAA champion. In addition, she was the 2001 Under-19 National Champion. In 2003, she won the World Junior Fencing Championships in women's saber.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

===Senior World Championships===

Jacobson is a 4-time Senior World Championships team member (2000–03). She was a member of the gold-medal 2000 Women's Sabre World Championship team at the age of 17.<ref name=autogenerated3>[http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/Sada-Jacobson.htm "Sada Jacobson"]</ref> She won another bronze medal at the 2006 World Fencing Championships sabre competition.<ref name=autogenerated3 />

In her first individual World Championships in 2001, Jacobson placed 12th. She placed 5th in 2002 and 2003.<ref>[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sada-jacobson "Sada Jacobson"]</ref>

===Pan American Games=== Jacobson won the gold medal in sabre at the 2003 Pan American Games.<ref>{{cite web |author=Ralph Hickok |url=http://www.hickoksports.com/history/panamfencing.shtml |title=Pan American Games Fencing Medalists |publisher=HickokSports.com |date=February 18, 2009 |accessdate=March 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120906104235/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/panamfencing.shtml |archivedate=September 6, 2012 }}</ref><ref name=autogenerated3 />

===National Championships=== Jacobson won the US women's sabre championship in 2004 (beating her sister in the final) and 2006.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ralph Hickok |url=http://www.hickoksports.com/history/usfencingchamps.shtml#wsabre |title=U. S. Fencing Champions |publisher=HickokSports.com |date=February 18, 2009 |accessdate=March 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20061210063458/http://www.hickoksports.com/history/usfencingchamps.shtml |archivedate=December 10, 2006 }}</ref><ref name=autogenerated2 />

She was ranked # 1 in the US from June 2003 through October 2005.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

===Number 1 World Ranking=== In 2004, at 19 years of age she became the first U.S. woman to be ranked No. 1 in the world in sabre, and only the second U.S. athlete to claim the title, after male fencer Keeth Smart.<ref name="usoc.org"/><ref>[http://www.usoc.org/26_1150.htm ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050509000137/http://www.usoc.org/26_1150.htm |date=May 9, 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130503021623/http://www.fencingmedia.org/viewathlete.asp?weapon=WS www.fencingmedia.org]}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=682MDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22sada+jacobson%22&pg=PA241 ''Olympic Women and the Media: International Perspectives'']</ref>

===Olympic medals=== Jacobson won the bronze medal in women's sabre at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the first year that event was hosted at the Olympics.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nellyafencers.com/olympianfencers.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053159/http://www.nellyafencers.com/olympianfencers.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-03-04|title=Nellya's Olympic Fencers|date=2016-03-04|access-date=2018-08-14}}</ref> Her match took place before the gold-silver match, and therefore Jacobson became the first women's sabre Olympic medalist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ivy50.com/womens/story.aspx?sid=2/15/2007 |title=Ivy Women in Sports |publisher=Ivy50.com |date= |accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/athens2004/fencing/results?day=17 |title=Athens 2004 Olympics, Fencing – Fencing Results |publisher=Yahoo! Sports |date= |accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref> She won the silver medal in individual sabre <ref name=":0" /> and bronze in the team sabre event at the 2008 Summer Olympics.<ref>{{cite web|author=|url=http://www.annarbor.com/sports/former-olympic-fencer-sada-jacobson-transitions-to-life-as-a-michigan-law-student/ |title=Former Olympic fencer Sada Jacobson transitions to life as a Michigan law student |publisher=AnnArbor.com |date=May 12, 2010 |accessdate=January 3, 2011}}</ref>

==Post-fencing career== Jacobson indicated that she intended to retire from competitive fencing after the 2008 Olympic competitions concluded, and focus on law school, and starting life with her fiancé.<ref>{{cite web|author=|url=https://www.today.com/news/will-medalists-make-fencing-new-baseball-wbna26135457 |title=Fencing: The new baseball? – TODAY in Beijing |publisher=Today.com |date=August 13, 2008 |accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref> She graduated with a J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2011.<ref>{{cite news |first=Dave |last=Sheinin |title=In Fencing, U.S. Women Pull Off Historic Sweep |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/09/AR2008080900921.html?hpid=topnews |newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 10, 2008 |accessdate=August 22, 2008}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|last=Slater |first=Dan |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/08/11/fencing-champ-headed-for-michigan-law-school/ |title=Upon Returning from Beijing, Fencing Champ Will Be Law School Bound |publisher=WSJ |date=August 11, 2008 |accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated4 /> She and Brendan Brunelle Bâby, who graduated from Pennsylvania State University where he competed in épée and was a member of three NCAA championship teams, were married in May 2009 in Atlanta at the Nellya Fencers Club, where she had trained for both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics.<ref name="nytimes1"/> As of 2015, she practiced commercial litigation for McKenna Long & Aldridge.<ref name=autogenerated4 />

==Awards== *Jacobson, who is Jewish, received the Marty Glickman Award for the Outstanding Jewish Scholastic Athlete of the Year in both 2002 and 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsports.org/jewishsports/detail.asp?sp=169 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227162624/http://www.jewishsports.org/jewishsports/detail.asp?sp=169 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 27, 2010 |title=Jewish Sports Hall of Fame |publisher=Jewishsports.org |date=March 24, 2002 |accessdate=March 27, 2010}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hB1KAQAAMAAJ&q=%22sada+jacobson%22 ''Journal of the Senate'']</ref> *She was named Academic All-Ivy League for 2002.<ref>[http://ivyleague.com/sports/2017/7/28/history-honors-academic-all-ivy-yale.aspx "Yale Academic All-Ivy Selections" - Ivy League]</ref> *In 2003 Jacobson was named the U.S. Fencer of the Year.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> *Also in 2003, she was inducted in the U.S. National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, which recognizes outstanding Jewish athletes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fau.edu/library/br153.htm |title=Jewish Heroes in America |publisher=Fau.edu |date= |accessdate=March 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528145158/http://www.fau.edu/library/br153.htm |archive-date=2010-05-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref> *In 2012, she was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> *In 2016, she was inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame.<ref>[https://www.usafencing.org/news_article/show/525275-usa-fencing-members-elect-hall-of-fame-class-of-2016 "USA Fencing Members Elect Hall of Fame Class of 2016"]</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * {{FIE}} * {{Team USA|new_id=sada-jacobson|old_id=JA/Sada-Jacobson|archive=20220518114835}} * {{Olympics.com profile}} * {{Olympedia}} * [http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/15/hm.olympic.fencer.inspires/index.html CNN: Olympic fencer inspires new generation] * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060820005414/http://www.jewishsports.org/jewishsports/detail.asp?id=169 National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame bio]}} * [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Jacobson2.html Jewish Virtual Library bio]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Sada}} Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Jewish sabre fencers Category:Fencers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Jewish American sportspeople Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in fencing Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in fencing Category:Yale Bulldogs fencers Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni Category:American female sabre fencers Category:International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees Category:Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in fencing Category:The Westminster Schools alumni Category:Fencers at the 2003 Pan American Games Category:Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American sportswomen Category:Left-handed fencers Category:Sportspeople from Rochester, Minnesota Category:World Fencing Championships medalists