A piece of Portland will be heading to the 2024 Summer Olympics at the end of July in Paris.
Representing the U.S. in women’s fencing will be 18-year-old Magda Skarbonkiewicz, who has already put together an impressive juniors resume.
The former Jesuit High School student, who now takes classes online to focus on her sport, is a two-time Junior World Champion (2022 and 2023) along with being a champion in the 2023 Pan American Games as both an individual and with Team USA.
Now, the No. 10-ranked fencer in the world will get the chance to compete at the peak of her sport fresh off of graduating from high school.
“I’m very excited and proud, it still hasn’t fully hit, there’s moments where I’m just like, ‘Oh, I made it,’” Skarbonkiewicz said. “I don’t think it will fully hit until I get to Paris. But I’m excited to compete.”
Fencing has always been on the table for Skarbonkiewicz as her dad and coach at the Oregon Fencing Alliance in Beaverton was quite the strong fencer himself.
Adam Skarbonkiewicz recalls how he had qualified for the Olympics, but after moving to the U.S. from Poland, he missed out on the deadline for full citizenship by a couple months.
Seeing his daughter succeed in the sport he’s loved his whole life is really a cherry on top for the dad whose goal has always been to provide his children with happiness.
“Like every parent, you want the best for your kids,” Adam said. “I traveled all over the world, I’ve been many, many places … In my opinion, we’re living in the best country in the world. I adopted this country 30 years ago and I’m very proud to represent the U.S. and I’m very proud my kid is going to represent the best country.”
Adam, whose grandpa was a U.S. citizen who fought in World War I, came to the country when he was 20 years old.
He eventually settled down with his wife Brynn and had three children born in Colorado in Magda, Milena and Maks.
The crew moved to Oregon when Magda was six and right away Adam wanted his kids to be in sports, but had the financial hurdle to overcome. Luckily, with him coaching fencing, his kin got a pretty good deal to follow dad around at work.
Magda tried a few different sports still — her mother Brynn played volleyball growing up — but fencing is where she discovered the most success and found her drive to win.
“I won Cadet when I was 13 or 14 … I won that and I was like, ‘Oh, this is fun, I like winning,’” Magda said with a smile. “When I was younger, winning was probably the biggest motivation, just succeeding.”
The success for Magda lies partially in her unique approach to the sport, being a lefty and having a different style on the stage.
The odd approach has given Magda a chance to throw off her opponents and take advantage of her unique skill to score points.
“She’s a very good athlete, but she’s a little awkward with some stuff because she’s left handed,” Adam said. “Sometimes you didn’t know if it was talent or just weirdness, but it somehow worked for fencing very good. And in her head she’s very strong — the competition stress doesn’t affect her much.”
That wasn’t always the case as Magda said when she started to take fencing more serious around age 12 that her style caught more attention and with it, more comments on its weirdness.
Magda described how the men’s side of fencing is used to more out-of-the-box styles compared to the women’s game, but with her uncommon approach she’s been able to carve her own space in the sport.
“When I came in I was self-conscious at first, people were like, ‘Your style is weird,’ and around 12 I was like, ‘I don’t want my style to be this weird, I want it to be normal,’” Magda said. “But having an eccentric style that’s more out of the box has gotten me to where I am today because it’s tougher to figure out.”
With her style down and a drive for winning fueling her in the gym with her dad, Magda hit the national stage and eventually the international stage, traveling the world for competitions and often coming home with the gold.
Right by her side has been Adam — to help provide motivation from his past — often pointing to a wall of champions inside the training center, which includes former Olympian Mariel Zagunis from Beaverton.
Before she heads to Paris, Magda will still be quite busy with the Junior World Championship coming up April 12-20 in Saudi Arabia. After that, she’ll head to South Korea for a camp and more competitions before heading to New York for an announcement gala for the Olympics.
Magda comes home for five days after that before heading to Bulgaria for another senior competition.
“I want to go to Paris and figure out a way where I can enjoy it because I want to do well there,” Magda said. “To do well I have to relax because I fence off of emotions a lot so I just want to be in a good mental state.”
And of course the whole family will be making the trip to Paris for the Olympics to cheer on Magda.
Once they’re in France there’s no expectations, according to Adam. The plan is to have fun and do the best 18-year-old Magda can do.
With her previous history though and her city behind her, there’s nothing this youngster can’t accomplish in her career.
“We don’t put any expectation,” Adam said. “If she’s going to find what it takes to do something big she will. If not, maybe next Olympics. It’s about the experience and stuff, but she’s going to give it her best shot and we’re planning for the best, practicing for the best.”
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