Anja Fichtel - Biography

Biography

Fichtel is remembered not just for her many victories, but also for her uncompromised vigorous fencing style. As Elena Grishina, the noted Soviet fencer, recalls:

The appearance of Anja Fichtel in foil fencing has drastically changed our view on that type of weapon. Earlier the foil fencers would exchange technical tricks for a long while, using parries and counter-parries, attacks with multiple riposte and parat riposte, attacks with multiple binds and disengagements. Anja used to advance with three quick balestra, then stepped back, forcing her opponent to come closer, then she threw her arm above her head and vigorously attacked with a large lunge, making it almost half-size of the strip. She would aim the hit either at the shoulder or the back of competitor, and there was practically no chance to avoid it.

In 1990, she won the "Russian Cup," an international tournament in foil fencing for women held in Moscow, where the highest award was reserved for the foil fencer who did not lose a single bout. A year later, she again won the same cup.

Seven weeks before the Olympics in Barcelona, Anja gave birth to her son Lauren. She followed her husband Torsten Mauritz to Austria and changed her name to Fichtel-Mauritz. She still represented Germany at the team Olympics and took second place behind the Italian team.

The Russians met Fichtel in Moscow in 1993. At the “Russian Cup”, she lost to Diane Byakendy and took second place. In March 1997, she announced her retirement, and in October of the same year she gave birth to her second baby, and in 2007 her third child was born. Her elder son Lauren has also taken up fencing.