Peter Westbrook

Peter Westbrook

Peter Westbrook (born April 16, 1952) is a former American sabre fencing champion, active businessman and founder of the Peter Westbrook Foundation. As a former U.S. champion and Olympic medalist,[1][2] Peter Westbrook came to fencing from an unlikely direction, the inner city. Westbrook's remarkable life began with his Japanese mother, who convinced him to try fencing. As a Newark teenager in the 1960s, Westbrook brought unseen intensity to the sport; anger over his absentee father, poverty, and status as a biracial man in a racist society helped to fuel Westbrook to remarkable heights within the sport. Through discipline and hard work, he channeled his anger into the competitive edged needed to become an internationally ranked competitor.

Westbrook's father, Ulysses, was a G.I. stationed in Japan during the Korean War; when he met Mariko, a beautiful Japanese woman from a sheltered home. Soon after their marriage they returned to the United States, traveling first to St. Louis, Missouri and eventually settling in Newark, NJ, where Peter and his younger sister Vivian were born. Peter’s earliest memories are of frequent bouts of domestic violence.  Peter was 4 when his father left, leaving his mother to raise the family with no real skills or outside means of support. Through a series of jobs, working in a factory and as a maid, she provided for her children. Mariko bartered with priests at the local Catholic school (St. Peters/Queen of Angels) in exchange for schooling for Peter and Vivian.

Medal record
Mens' fencing
Competitor for United States

Olympic Games
Bronze 1984 Los Angeles Individual Sabre

Pan American Games
Gold 1983 Caracas Individual sabre
Gold 1995 Mar del Plata Individual sabre
Gold 1995 Mar del Plata Team sabre
Silver 1975 Mexico City Team sabre
Silver 1979 San Juan Individual sabre
Silver 1979 San Juan Team sabre
Silver 1983 Caracas Team sabre
Silver 1987 Indianapolis Individual sabre
Silver 1987 Indianapolis Team sabre
Bronze 1975 Mexico City Individual sabre

Source: Wikipedia