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“[Fencing for Columbia] helped me to improvedramatically,” Williams said. “I learnedhow to support, and depend upon the supportof, others. It made me more confident as afencer because I felt like I had to fence well,not just for myself, but for everyone on theteam.”In addition to fencing for Columbia, hebegan training with Yury Gelman, the headfencing coach at St. John’s University andcoach of the U.S. Olympic Fencing Team forthe last four Olympiads.“James was a strong junior fencer, butnever made any national teams,” Gelmansaid. “He worked very hard and made thesenior team …. He got a lot of experience andhas become one of the team’s most intellectualfencers.”In particular, Gelman cites Williams’ skillin putting his opponents on the defensive byconstructing attacks that are difficult to parry.“James has very strong attack and point ofline actions,” Gelman said. “His point of lineactions are very unique .… [O]nly few fencersin the world can do the same.”In 2006 and 2007, his junior and senioryears, Williams served as captain of theColumbia fencing team and was named anAll-Ivy-League fencer; in 2007 the Lions wonthe Ivy League Championship.At the same time, he managed a demandingworkload, majoring in history and concentratingin Russian. He applied to the Master’sprogram in Slavic Cultures, and began studyingat GSAS in fall 2007, three months aftergraduating from Columbia College.“I loved Russian literature and knew that Iwanted to dive into it,” Williams said. “I alsowanted to work on my language skills.”It was no easy task to balance graduatestudy with a comprehensive fencing trainingregimen that included practicing withsabers multiple times a day, six days per week;cardiovascular endurance building in the preseason;weightlifting, sprints, and resistancetraining during the competition season; andwork with sports psychologists and physicaltherapists.“I moved to Long Island City, so my commuteto class and from class increased fromfive minutes to an hour,” Williams said. “Theworkload was much more challenging, and Ihad to miss two weeks of class to attend worldchampionships in St. Petersburg. It took a lotof work and a lot of coffee.”Williams took the spring 2008 semesteroff to devote himself exclusively to training,and qualified for the Olympics as an alternatefor the U.S. Men’s Saber Team. The teamdefeated Hungary and Russia before fallingto France in the final round. Earning silver,they were the first U.S. men’s fencing team tomedal in 24 years.Williams returned home and resumed hisstudies in earnest, graduating in May 2009and writing his thesis on Gary Shteyngart, theRussian-born and American-educated authorof The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Absurdistan,and Super Sad True Love Story. Williamsargued that Shteyngart now a professor at theSchool of the Arts, occupies a “middle groundbetween American and Russian literature.”Professor Irina Reyfman of the Departmentof Slavic Languages and Literatures,who taught Williams as an undergraduate andgraduate student, praised both his dedication,noting that on occasion he would submithis assignments via email while at a fencingcompetition overseas, and his intellectualcuriosity. “He always used every opportunityto speak Russian,” Reyfman recalls. “He spentthe summer of 2006 trying to read Tolstoy’sWar and Peace in Russian and managed to getthrough about half of the book.”Laura Paler, AcehLink back to contents page24 Superscript