RIO DE JANEIRO — In her first two trips to the Olympics, fencer Mariel Zagunis experienced pure elation with back-to-back gold medals in the sabre competition. Her two most recent trips, however, have not lived up to expectations.
Zagunis was eliminated Monday in the Round of 16 in shocking fashion, losing 15-12 to Russia’s Ekaterina Dyachenko.
Despite being one of the favorites to reach the medal stand, individual fencing is a single-elimination sport with extremely small margins. And Zagunis said she simply didn’t execute her gameplan against Dyachenko, an opponent she had beaten in seven of nine meetings.