Elvis Gregory Gil

Elvis Gregory Gil, an Olympic medalist and world champion from Cuba, joined the Ohio State fencing staff during the 2019-20 campaign. He leads the Buckeye foil squads.

During his first season, the Buckeyes captured the men’s and women’s team titles, as well as the men’s and women’s foil squad crowns, at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships, sweeping the individual titles. The maximum four Buckeye foil fencers earned NCAA Championship berths, with four Top 4 finishes at NCAA Regionals. In 2021, his second season, the Buckeye men won the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference team championship and the women were the conference team co-champions and the men’s foil squad was CCFC co-champs. Buckeye foil fencer Diego Cervantes qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games and competed in Tokyo, winning her first bout and finishing 32nd.

Under coaches Carlos Miranda, Eduardo Jons and Olag Puzsanov, Gregory Gil claimed a silver medal with the Cuban men’s foil team and an individual bronze at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. He returned to the Olympic arena in Atlanta in 1996 to claim a team bronze with the Cuban men’s foil team, bringing him to a total of three Olympic medals.

Gregory Gil also claimed two gold medals at the World Fencing Championships in Budapest in 1991 and The Hague in 1995. He continued his outstanding performances at world championship competitions with a pair of silver medals in 1997 and 1998 and added a bronze in 2001. From 1995 to 2000, he earned a position as one of the highest-ranked fencers in the world.

After competing on the world stage, Gregory Gil obtained a Level III coaching license from the National Olympic Committee to coach high-achieving athletes like himself. Since then, he has served as an assistant coach at the esteemed and most titled club in Italy, Club Scherma Roma for 18 years. He was also a member of the national Paralympic fencing staff, where he coached athletes including Marco Cima and Bebe Vio to individual world championships.

He has an impressive track record coaching young, talented fencers. He coached Camilla de Juliis to a third-place finish at the European World U23 Championships and Saverio Schiavone, who claimed medals in multiple European competitions. He also served as two-year coach of Margherita Grambassi, who won multiple international competitions and Olympic medals and is now a fencing television commentator.

Gregory Gil earned his master’s degree from the Instituto Superior de Culutra Fisica Manuel Fajardo (ISCF) in Havana, Cuba.