Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Nationality | American | |||||||||||
Born | Los Angeles, California, United States | January 5, 1958|||||||||||
Height | 6-2.5 (190 cm) | |||||||||||
Weight | 185 lb (84 kg) | |||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||
Country | United States | |||||||||||
Sport | Fencing | |||||||||||
Event | epee | |||||||||||
College team |
San Jose State University (
BA Boston University ( MFA) | |||||||||||
Club | Fencing Center of San Jose [1] | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Peter Schifrin (born January 5, 1958) is an American Olympic epee fencer and sculptor.
Schifrin was born in Los Angeles, California, lived in Santa Rosa, California, and is Jewish. [1] [2] [3] His father was a professional artist. [4] After attending San Jose State University, where he earned a BA as a fine arts major, he earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Boston University. [1] [2] [5]
Schifrin began fencing at age 13. [6] While in high school he won the Junior National Epee Championship in both 1976 and 1977. [2]
He attended and fenced for San Jose State University on a fencing scholarship from 1979 through 1982. [7] [1] [2] [6] There, Schifrin was a four-time All-American, and had a 266-35 win-loss record. [2] He won the 1982 NCAA Epee National Championship—thereby becoming the university's first and only NCAA champion in men's fencing. [1] [2]
Schifrin represented the United States at the 1979 Pan American Games team, winning a gold medal, and competed at the 1979 Summer Universiade and the 1981 Summer Universiade. [1] [2] He won a silver medal in epee at the 1981 Maccabiah Games. [1]
He competed in the team épée event at the 1984 Summer Olympics. [1]
Schifrin was inducted into the San Jose State University Sports Hall of Fame, in the Class of 2005. [2]
Schifrin became a poet and an artist, trained in figurative and portrait sculpture, and began making textured works in both metal and clay. [8] [6] He has had multiple commissioned works in California: he designed and executed a bronze firefighter in San Ramon, a bronze "Wounded Man" for San Mateo's Performing Arts Center, and a set of bronze coyotes for downtown San Jose. [1] [9] Schifrin also created "Wings," a series of three sculptures installed on Martha's Vineyard. [1] Schifrin and another sculptor, David Duskin, created "J-Line," which was commissioned by another fencing Olympian, Stephen Trevor, a private equity manager. [1] He has works on display with the Art of the Olympians. [10] [11] [12]
Schifrin also teaches as an instructor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. [1] [6] He was voted into the National Sculpture Society in 2011. [13]