Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS Notre Dame, but on the road to recov- ery he wasn't sure if he would ever get back to full speed. "I was worried, especially when I got back on the international circuit and was not performing very well," he said. "It's not just physically, but mentally it was a huge setback. I think that's why I'm so appreciative of every match that I fence and every result that I get." Meinhardt said the injury changed his outlook on enjoying the sport and made him a stronger fencer in the long run. He returned to the collegiate level after taking another year off to travel and prepare for the 2012 Lon- don Games, his second Olympics. That leaves him with a few more months of NCAA eligibility and a last chance to win a team national title with the Irish in late March. Most prominent international fenc- ers are full-time athletes, but the sport isn't popular enough in the U.S. to support its athletes without some other type of income. Meinhardt has a year left to earn his MBA diploma. When he finishes in South Bend, he plans to work part-time at Deloitte back in San Francisco while training for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. ✦ Meinhardt (left) has become the first American to rank No. 1 in the world in men's foil. PHOTO COURTESY USA FENCING