Miles Chamley-Watson: What the celebrity fencer has been up to in the lead-up to Paris
Two-time Olympic fencer and Rio 2016 bronze medalist Miles Chamley-Watson has officially been named to the U.S. Olympic Team as the American men go for foil gold at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
On a mission to take fencing from “niche to mainstream” and prove that Olympic athletes are more than just their sport, the fencer continues to walk down red carpets, do F1 Hot Laps and make time for family, all while competing around the world and training for his third Olympic Games.
Chamley-Watson, along with the rest of the United States’ foil fencers, will compete in their final Grand Prix before the Olympics from 18-19 May in Shanghai, People's Republic of China but, ahead of that, here is what the celebrity fencer has been up to in and out of training in the lead up to Paris.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024
Chamley-Watson named to U.S. Olympic Team
For the third time in his life, Chamley-Watson's name is on the U.S. Olympic Team roster and is on course to represent the Star Spangled Banner later this year in Paris. U.S. Fencing made the official full-roster announcement on 1 May, less than three months ahead of the start of the Games.
After failing to reach the podium at Tokyo 2020, the 34-year-old fencer will attempt to bounce back and better his Rio 2016 bronze medal in Paris.
On the day of the announcement, the fencer took to Instagram to say “This has been one of those years that very few know the severity and intensity of it.
“One day the story will be told, but one thing is for certain I’m heading back to my third Olympics more focused and ready than ever to make history with my brothers. @Paris2024 get ready. We coming!”
Miles Chamley-Watson of Team USA at the Men's Foil Individual Semifinal at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
Chamley-Watson will be part of a highly experienced four-strong men’s foil team that also includes four-time Olympian Gerek Meinhardt, three-time Olympian Alexander Massialas and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Nick Itkin.
The U.S. men’s foil team began the Olympic year off with a bang, taking the gold medal at the Mazars Challenge International in Paris from 11-14 January.
Miles Chamley-Watson on balance
As Chamley-Watson told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview back in January of this year, balance is a crucial element of his success, but is also “something I’m still learning.”
This year, he seems to have struck a delicate balance between his intense training regime and the sort of lifestyle many athletes only dream about.
From an F1 race in Melbourne, Australia, to posing for luxury fashion brands, snowmobiling in France, celebrating Lewis Hamilton’s birthday and surprising his big sister on her birthday, Chamley-Watson has had a jam-packed schedule that he fits around the training and recovery it takes to be one of the best fencers in the world.
Speaking about balance in January, Chamley-Watson revealed that to keep his priorities in check he thinks about a piece of advice given to him by mentor Michael Strahan, who is also a TV personality and Pro Football Hall of Famer.
“Never mess up your main,” Strahan told Chamley-Watson. “Your main is fencing - that’s what got you here.”
The fencer explained that this is how he maintains perspective, and how many of the amazing things that he has been able to do throughout his life have come from the hard work and sacrifice that made him one of the best fencers in the world.
So, with fencing always coming first, Chamley-Watson continues to try to live a balanced life, while also attempting to take fencing “from niche to mainstream” and de-stigmatize the idea that Olympic athletes are all “robots.”