Cliff Bayer wins USOC award

Penn men's fencer Cliff Bayer was honored recently as the United States Olympic Committee's Male Athlete of the Month for May, receiving five of the 11 first-place votes to earn that designation. The Penn senior and New York Athletic Club member beat out canoe sprinter Nate Johnson and boxer Demetrius Hopkins for the USOC award. Johnson and Hopkins finished tied for second with 23 points -- ten behind Bayer. Cycler Christian Vande Velde garnered 18 points for third place. Bayer won a bronze medal at a men's foil "A" World Cup event in Espinho, Portugal on May 22-23. His bronze marked the first senior World Cup medal ever earned by a male from the United States in the foil competition. In the tournament, Bayer -- ranked 26th in the world -- defeated No. 5 Ralf Bissdorf from Germany in the round of 64, 15-11. The Quakers' senior then took down Austria's Stephan Richter, 15-14, and 1995 World Champion Dimitri Chevtchenko of Russia, 15-6. Italy's Daniele Crosta was the next victim of Bayer's foil. The New York native beat Crosta, 15-11, before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Oscar Garcia of Cuba, 15-11. "This is all on the road to the Olympic Games," Penn fencing coach Dave Micahnik said. "It's tough to make it when you're not a host -- you have to have a high world ranking, and a result like that just cascades into better seeds [in future tournaments] and better rankings." Bayer competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and is looking to return to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. To prepare for the Olympics, Bayer -- who is ranked first in the United States in the foil -- will be taking the year off from Penn to concentrate on his training. "A highly demanding academic schedule and a highly competitive international fencing schedule don't blend terribly well," Micahnik said. Bayer took a year off from schooling prior to the 1996 Olympics as well. A three-time winner of the Senior National Fencing Championship, Bayer will represent the United States team at the 1999 World University Games July 3-12 in Palma de Majorca, Spain. The team was selected on the basis of international and domestic competitions. Bayer, a Wharton student, is training with Yefim Litvan, his private coach from the New York Athletic Club. Litvan is a former assistant coach for Penn.