George Worth

George V. Worth (April 1, 1915 – January 15, 2006) was an American sabre fencer.

Fencing career

US Championship

In 1954, Worth was the U.S. national sabre champion, [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:J5jULFOku6QJ:www.hickoksports.com/history/usfencingchamps.shtml+%22George+Worth%22+sabre&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=11&gl=us] and he was a 5-time medalist. [http://www.fencingonfairfield.com/worth_george.htm]

Olympics

An excellent sabre fencer in the 1940s and 1950s, Worth, who was Jewish, competed for the United States fencing team at 4 Olympiads.

At the 1948 London Olympics, he participated in the team and individual events, winning a bronze medal in the team competition. In the individual event, in the final, Worth finished in 5th place.

Worth returned to the Olympics in 1952 at the Helsinki Games, and again competed in the team and individual events. The U.S. team (with fellow Jewish fencers, Norman Armitage, Allan Kwartler, and Alex Treves) defeated Switzerland in the first round (9-2), Germany in the second round (11-5), and Poland in the semifinals (10-6). They advanced to the final round-robin competition, but finished in 4th place. In the individual competition, Worth reached the quarterfinals.

At the 1956 Melbourne Games, Worth made it to the semifinals in the individual sabre competition. In the team event, the U.S. was fortunate to receive a first-round bye (they did not draw an opponent), and automatically advanced to the semifinals, where they were elimimated after losing to Poland and Hungary in their pool.

Worth's final Olympic appearance was at the 1960 Rome Games, where he competed exclusively in the team sabre event; the U.S. again finished in 4th place.

Pan American Games

Worth won the individual silver medal and the team gold medal in saber at the 1951 Pan American Games in Argentina.

He repeated those results at the 1955 Pan Am Games in Mexico.

At the 1959 Games in Chicago, he again won a team gold, but came in 5th in the individual competition. At the Games he took the Pan American Games Oath for the U.S.A. during the opening ceremonies. [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:kb5iFege8lEJ:www.geocities.com/giorgio_santelli_csaba_elthes/Santelli_1950s.htm+%22George+Worth%22+saber&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us]

Hall of Fame

He was inducted into the USFA Hall of Fame in 1974. [http://www.fencingonfairfield.com/worth_george.htm]

Links

* [http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WORTHGEO01 Olympic record]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/pafc/Pan_American_Games_Results.htm#E Pan American Games results]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=336 Jews in Sports bio]