Fencing
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
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, 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 his first bout and finishing 32nd.
Ohio State won the 2022 and 2023 men's and women's team CCFC titles, as well as the men's and women's foil squad championships. The squad finished fifth at the NCAA Championships in those seasons, with two men and two women qualifying in foil each year. In 2022 Camilla Rivano captured a third-place finish at the national championships. In 2024, the Buckeye men won the CCFC team championship and the men and women captured the foil squad titles. Dasha Myroniuk reached the semifinals at the NCAA Championships and Ohio State finished sixth as a team. Gregory was named the CCFC Men's Team Assistant Coach of the Year in 2024. Â
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 earn a team bronze with the Cuban men’s foil team, bringing him to a total of three Olympic medals.
Gregory Gil also claimed 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.
