Bayer honored by U.S. Fencing

The U.S. Fencing Assoc. picked the Penn senior as its male athlete of the year. Penn fencer Cliff Bayer, who is taking the year off to train for the 2000 Olympics, received yet another accolade this week. Bayer was named the United States Fencing Association's Male Athlete of the Year for his history-making achievements in 1999. In August, he won the gold medal at a World Cup event in St. Petersburg, Russia, becoming the first American ever to win gold at a World Cup event. To win the gold medal, Bayer had to go through 1997 and 1998 world champion Sergei Goloubitsky, the No. 1 foilist in the world in the quarterfinals. He routed the Ukranian, 15-6. Bayer defeated 1995 world champion Dimitri Chevtchencko 15-10 in the finals at St. Petersburg. The performance in Russia moved Bayer to No. 14 in the world rankings entering this year's World Championships, which began yesterday in Seoul, South Korea. Bayer took home a bronze medal in May from the World Cup event in Espinho, Portugal. The Wharton student also placed well in other World Cup events this year, finishing seventh at Haifa, Israel, in September, and 13th at Valencia, Venezuela, in June. Of the 45 medals won by the United States in World Cup history, Bayer now holds four -- he has a silver and another bronze in addition to the ones he has captured this year. Bayer, who was also the USFA's Male Athlete of the Year in 1995 and 1997, will now be considered for the United States Olympic Committee's Sportsman of the Year program. The USFA gave out its other annual awards this week. Andrea Ament, a high honor student at Hawken High School in Gates Mills, Ohio, was named the USFA's Female Athlete of the Year after she became the first fencer in the history of the World Under-17 Championships to win medals with two different weapons. She took bronze with both foil and epee at the U-17 and U-20 championships in March at Keszthely, Hungary. The 1999 World University Games team was named the USFA's Team of the Year.

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