Peter, Nzingha, Daryl: Black Olympians

MUSA What was it like back in 1960s to be a young Black Asian? And how did you get into fencing?

PETER I grew up in the housing projects in Newark, New Jersey with a Black man for a father and Japanese lady for a mother. In those days you didn’t see any Japanese women with a Black man in the projects. And I caught hell every single day. I mean I fought every day. So when I finally got a chance to gravitate towards fencing it was amazing. Because fencing is a fighting sport. But I don’t have to hurt anybody and I don’t have to get hurt. But I can use all that fuel, all that anger from little Peter to make it come out. I was thirteen when my mother asked to try the sport of fencing. She said I came from Samurai Warriors. I was like what was that going to do for me in the projects. So she actually gave my five dollars to try fencing. So I went to the fencing club and tried it. It was amazing. People doted over me. People said, “My God you got skills. You got talent.” And no one ever said anything about me that you was great growing up. So that was the catalyst.

MUSA Tell us about your first experience of going to the Olympics?

PETER What blew my mind was that living in the U.S. Black people are thirteen percent of the population. When I went to the Olympic Games and walked into the cafeteria, the athletic arena I noticed that eighty percent was People of color. Living in the United States people of color were a minority. But at the Olympics, people of color were the majority. In fact white people are the minority in the world. I did not know that. So it changed my whole perspective of people of color around the world.

MUSA What must a fencer have in order to make it to the Olympics?

PETER You have to be dedicated. You have to have love for the sport. If you have a little talent with a lot of dedication you’ll be extremely successful. If you have a lot of talent a little dedication, I’d go with the little talent with a lot of dedication. We see the talent invite them in and they begin to train three days a week. The Olympics is a long way down but we invite you to see your greatness. Our teachers help to bring out the greatness in our children.

MUSA What is one thing we may not know about fencing in regards to Black people?

PETER In actuality when we think of fencing we think of a white European sport. French, German, Italian but If you go online and research the first recording of a fencer was a Black man with long hair and sword was in Luxor, Egypt. In Africa. 1000 BC.

MUSA What is the Peter Westbrook Foundation ( PWF)?

PETER The highlight of my career has been the PWF. We service 150 young people from underserved communities to learn fencing. The Art of fencing also gives you life skills. We take them all the way to the Olympics and they come back with medals in this white sport. And those that don’t make it the Olympic Games they learn how to be Olympians in life. One hundred percent High School graduates, that go onto college, private colleges even. I’m the happiest man in world. We’ve helped thousands of kids.

MUSA What made you get into fencing and how old were you?

NZINGHA I was nine years old. My mom put me in a lot of sports. I did ballet, gymnastics, karate, swimming. She found the Peter Westbrook Foundation in a newspaper or Jet magazine. She enrolled me and my sister. She put me in fencing as a way to develop character. She wanted to have something we were good at to fall back on. Maybe to teach.

MUSA Who were your role models

NZINGHA Peter Westbrook, Errin and Keith Smart. They were a generation before us. They are all bad asses.

MUSA What made you get into fencing and how old were you?

NZINGHA I was nine years old. My mom put me in a lot of sports. I did ballet, gymnastics, karate, swimming. She found the Peter Westbrook Foundation in a newspaper or Jet magazine. She enrolled me and my sister. She put me in fencing as a way to develop character. She wanted to have something we were good at to fall back on. Maybe to teach.

MUSA You recently retired. But tell us what it was like being a Black female athlete competing in the Olympics?

NZINGHA It was an amazing journey and experience. It gives you a platform to do things for other people. You can have a lot of uncertainty when it comes to your life. But I always felt so secure in my purpose. I loved traveling the world with people I’ve known forever. It’s very taxing on your body. Lots of highs and lows. Lots of hard work. But the hard work is fun because it’s toward your purpose. Honestly it’s like a rockstar life. (Laughs) it feels really great to be an expert at something. To be the best in the world. Being a world champion is really empowering. Once you learn how to be an expert at one thing. You know what it takes and can apply that somewhere else. Now I’m in a position to give that back to my community. Share this gift with others.

MUSA What are some of the things that you feel could improve or elevate your sport?

NZINGHA More Black coaches. More Blackness. More black leadership in the sport. I feel that the reason that PWF is so successful is because we have that community of successful Black people. Who encourage each other and lead by example. Someone who looks like you who is excelling in the sport. To improve or elevate the sport for our people is by having more outlets like PWF. It’s not very common to have Black owned fencing clubs. Fencing is very financially costly. So trying to get rid of some of those barriers to entry. If you don’t have a scholarship like what PWF gives us you have to be exceptionally well off. If the city or government got more involved and made sports more accessible that would be one solution.

MUSA Fencing is regarded by some as aristocratic European sport. What’s it like as a Black man to represent the USA at the Olympics?

DARYL My views regarding this has evolved over time. Aristocracy in some context dictates wealth. But I also think fencing can give you in a way, a character that is aristocratic. When I think about poise, posture, or being a gentleman. The sport of fencing is able to provide you with those skill sets. In the traditional sense the sport of fencing has been deemed as a white sport. I think we are shattering that perception. At least half of the team are people of color. If you include other minorities. And many of the most visible and high performing are Black. We shattering that everyday and it’s important to show that on a global level.

MUSA What does your preparation look like leading upto the Olympics?

DARYL Everything is at a standstill currently because of Covid. We have no competitions on the calendar. Generally speaking we would be traveling around the world. We are assuming that will pick back up in March. But it’s uncharted territory. This one is gong to be very different in how things have shifted. I’m focused on day to day training. Getting better every day. That is weight lifting sessions. That is skill training specifically with my coach. Foot work that’s similar to shadow boxing, sparring, recovery work and a lot mental visualization stuff. Probably nine to ten sessions a week, as we get closer to competition which will probably be in the spring.

MUSA What does your preparation look like leading upto the Olympics?

DARYL Everything is at a standstill currently because of Covid. We have no competitions on the calendar. Generally speaking we would be traveling around the world. We are assuming that will pick back up in March. But it’s uncharted territory. This one is gong to be very different in how things have shifted. I’m focused on day to day training. Getting better every day. That is weight lifting sessions. That is skill training specifically with my coach. Foot work that’s similar to shadow boxing, sparring, recovery work and a lot mental visualization stuff. Probably nine to ten sessions a week, as we get closer to competition which will probably be in the spring.

MUSA Tell us what it felt like winning the silver medal at the Olympics?

DARYL There are some things in life that you dreamed of every day but you didn’t think it was going to happen. You spent every day of your life fencing since your were eleven years old. Everyone that’s fencing with you I’m assuming has had the same dream. And you’re able to accomplish it. It was really overpowering, it was really special. It felt like in one of those movies when someone is about to pass away and their whole life flashes before their eyes. All the training I had done for all the years had flashed in front of me. It was an overwhelming experience not just for me but for my family, my friends, my teammates. I’m looking forward to doing it again.

MUSA What advice or wisdom might you give your successor?

DARYL I would say to not compare yourself to me, Keith Smart or Peter Westbrook or anyone that came ahead of them. To chart your own pathway. Be really authentic to yourself. I think keeping your individuality, your authenticity and your uniqueness and building around that, building your game around that, your brand around that is the most important thing.