Portrait: Out fencer Imke Duplitzer

By Chantal on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - 15:00

I never imagined that a sport like fencing could be sexy or even just fun to watch. The only thing I saw, were two people dressed up in some sort of Ninja suit with a mask that looks like a fly eye. Then I saw clips of the television show KiCK (which has a storyline involving two girls falling in love and fencing).

I looked up the sport and found that there’s actual skill needed! An even more impressive feat is that Fencing is one of only four sports that have been featured in the modern Olympic Games and the only Spanish Olympic Sport.

Currently there are three types of weapons used in the Olympic Games:

• Foil — a light thrusting weapon
• Épée — a heavy thrusting weapon
• Sabre — a light cutting and thrusting weapon

Épéé is where out fencer Imke Duplitzer comes in.

Imke was born on July 28, 1975 in Karlsruhe and has one older brother. Between the age of 6 and 10 years old she lived in Lagos, Nigeria. A year later, at 11, Imke became interested in fencing through a video of Cornelia Hanisch and started training. In 1992 she joined a fencing school near Bonn, but returned back to Heidenheim, where she started in 1996 and where she stayed until 2004.

From 1999 until the fall of 2007 she lived together with her life partner, a teacher, and their daughter in Bonn. After the death of her father in February of 2007 she took a break from fencing.

Besides her interest in Fencing, she studied Politics and Organization at the Fernuniversität Hagen.

Imke has always been openly gay towards her surroundings and spoke about her experiences together with her girlfriend. In 2002 they were openly out on their homepage (which has since disappeared with the reopening of her website, but a piece on homosexuality still exists in the German version).

Over the years she took part in and won an impressive amount of championships, including the Silver Medal for her team at Athens 2004, European Championship in 1999 and several national championships (Germany).

Imke is a Soldier by occupation, holding the title ‘Hauptfeldwebel’, which is the German equivalent of a Commonwealth Company Sergeant Major or American Company First Sergeant. She is also a PADI Instructor (Professional Association of Diving Instructors). In between the training and championships, this lady has a lot going for her.

Imke Duplitzer is also an avid advocate for Human Rights. During the ‘Bejing Games’ she chose not to attend the opening ceremonies in protest to China’s Communist Government. She then signed an open letter to Hu, which urged the Chinese president to end Death Penalty, protect Human Rights and make sure of a peaceful ending in Tibet. She is one of 40 Olympians that did so.

"I'm in a different position from other young athletes," Imke said back then in an interview. "This is my fourth games. I understand athletes want to march in the opening ceremony because it's a life dream. That's OK with me."

If you want to keep up-to-date and know more about Imke, you can visit her official website (the German version is most up-to-date).