Ruth White (fencer)

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|7|16}}

| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, United States

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| sport = Fencing

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Ruth White (born July 16, 1951) is an American doctor and retired foil fencer.

Life and career

White was born on July 16, 1951{{cite web |title=Ruth WHITE - Olympic Fencing {{!}} United States of America |url=https://www.olympic.org/ruth-white |website=International Olympic Committee |access-date=September 3, 2019 |language=en |date=June 12, 2016}} in Baltimore, Maryland where she faced racial discrimination at school for being African-American.{{cite web |last1=Henneman |first1=Kristen |title=Olympian Ruth White Found Freedom in Fencing |url=https://www.usafencing.org/news_article/show/762992-olympian-ruth-white-found-freedom-in-fencing |website=USA Fencing |access-date=September 3, 2019 |language=en-us |date=February 27, 2017}}

In 1969, White became the first African-American to win a US fencing championship. She also competed at the 1971 Pan American Games where she won a gold medal in the team foil event and silver medal in the individual foil event.

She competed in fencing at New York University, coached by future Olympic coach Michel Sebastiani.Bill Alden (June 14, 2006). [https://www.towntopics.com/jun1406/sports1.html "25-Year Passion Play Concludes for PU Fencing Coach Sebastiani,"] Town Topics. She fenced on his women's team that won the 1971 National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association championship, as she won all 27 of her bouts.[https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/2016/6/16/womens-fencing-coaching-records-program-facts "Women's Fencing,"] Princeton Tigers.[http://niwfa.com/ "NIWFA Team Champions,"] NIWFA. As Sebastiani confidently predicted she would to The New York Times – she went on to compete for Team USA at the 1972 Munich Olympics.[https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/04/archives/n-y-u-captures-womens-fencing-ruth-white-takes-all-27-of-her-bouts.html "N.Y.U. Captures Women's Fencing,"] The New York Times, April 4, 1971.

She was the first African-American women to represent the US in fencing at the Olympics. She competed in the women's individual and team foil events at the 1972 Munich Olympics.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wh/ruth-white-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418043354/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wh/ruth-white-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |title=Ruth White Olympic Results |access-date=February 23, 2011 |work=sports-reference.com}}

Soon after she competed at the Olympics, White left fencing to go into medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and went on to work in internal medicine.

White was inducted into NYU's Hall of Fame in 1989, and into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame in 2001.