Ivan Lee

Ivan James Lee is an American former Olympic sabre fencer and coach. He was a two-time NCAA Men's Sabre Champion, a five-time national sabre champion, and was inducted into the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame. He worked as a police officer in the New York City Police Department from 2008 until 2022, and as the Women's Fencing Team Head Coach at Long Island University from 2019 until December 2023. Lee was elected Chair of the board of directors of USA Fencing in September 2023. He was suspended by USA Fencing in December 2023, for his alleged conduct that would constitute a violation of the U.S. Center for SafeSport (SafeSport) Code. Lee resigned when he was informed of his suspension. His suspension was upheld by SafeSport on January 4, 2024, lifted by SafeSport on January 16 while it continued its investigation of Lee’s conduct, and then reimposed by SafeSport in February 2024.

1994–2014; competitive career

Lee was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, living in East Flatbush. He later lived in Cambria Heights, Queens, and Jamaica, Queens, in New York City. He began fencing in 1994 at the Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF) in New York City, which he continued to represent throughout his competitive career along with the Fencers Club in Manhattan. Lee graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, in 1999. He received a full athletic scholarship to St. John's University in Queens, New York. Lee was a member of the 2001 U.S. Junior World Sabre team. He was awarded the USOC's Male Athlete of the Year Award for Fencing in 2001. He went on to win individual and team gold medals at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He placed 12th in the individual competition and 4th in the team competition. To be successful in fencing, which he likened to physical chess, he said it was most important to be intelligent and "brutally aggressive." He has been a competitive veteran fencer, and won two consecutive national titles in Vet-40 men’s saber. == 2015–23; college coach and USA Fencing Chair ==

2015–23; college coach and USA Fencing Chair

Lee was the Head Coach of the Women's Fencing Team of Long Island University from March 2019 until December 1, 2023, when he resigned. It was his first coaching position, and he said: "I love coaching. It’s very rewarding." At the 2021 NCAA National Championship, his freshman fencer Laura Fekete—whom he had recruited—won the gold medal in épée, the first NCAA fencing championship in school history. In 2022 she won the bronze medal. == 2023–present; suspension, arrests, guilty pleas, lifetime ban ==

2023–present; suspension, arrests, guilty pleas, lifetime ban

Lee was suspended by USA Fencing on December 22, 2023, for his alleged conduct that would constitute a violation of the SafeSport Code. They related to an incident in November 2023 in a college gym while he was the Head Coach of the Women's Fencing Team of Long Island University. He pleaded guilty September 3, 2024, at Kings County Criminal Court in Brooklyn to forcible touching-intimate parts and harassment in the second degree — physical contact. Upon sentencing in May 2025, one plea was vacated after Lee participated in a court ordered treatment program. Lee was given six years of probation and ordered to enroll in a program for sex offenders for the other charges. ==Professional and volunteer work==

Professional and volunteer work

Police officer Lee worked as a police officer in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from July 2008 until February 2022. He spent his first six years on the police force in the NYPD transit bureau, and his last seven years as a physical training instructor at the Police Academy. He was a board member of the Rosalyn Yalow Charter School in the Bronx from 2014 until 2023. He has served as a deacon, administrator, and youth leader at his church, taught classes at PWF, mentored high school and college students at the USOC's F.L.A.M.E. (Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere) program, He founded a fencing club called Naviblue Sports in New York. Lee has also been the Head Sabre Coach at Long Island Fencing Center in Carle Place, New York. ==Personal==

Personal

Ivan is the only child of Wesley Desmond Lee and Cynthia Lee. His mother, a retired teacher, heard from a fellow teacher who was the mother of future Olympic medalists Erinn Smart and Keeth Smart, that her children participated in a non-profit fencing program for children in Manhattan, the PWF. But his father, an auto mechanic and pastor of Ebenezer Missionary Chapel in Brooklyn, convinced him to take fencing seriously because of what he saw as the college scholarship possibility in fencing. Lee and his wife, Shameeka Waddell Lee, have two children. ==Awards and honors==

Awards and honors

• 2004 U.S. Olympic Team member • Five-time Division 1 Men's Sabre National Champion (2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008) • 2021, 2022, 2023 Veteran-40 Men's Sabre National Champion • 2003 Pan American Men's Sabre Champion • 2003 Pan American Men's Sabre Team Champion • 2001, 2002 NCAA Men's Sabre Champion • 2001 USOC Male Athlete of the Year, Fencing • US Fencing Association Hall of Fame inductee, class of 2014 (Removed 2025) ==See also==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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