James-Andrew Davis, the 2014 European Champion, has officially retired from competition.
James-Andrew Davis, Britain’s first ever European Champion, has officially retired from competition.
Based in the USA for many years, Davis continues to coach at the Massialas Foundation (Mteam) on the East Coast.
Davis had an incredible fencing journey, which began when he was just four years old. 2011 saw his breakthrough season, and his performances merited him a host nation place on the British team that competed at the London 2012 Olympics.
Davis made history in 2014, becoming Britain’s first ever European Champion in Strasbourg. In 2013 he won Britain’s first Grand Prix gold in St. Petersburg since 2009.
He then went on to represent GB in the 2016 Olympics, in Rio. At the end of the 2016 season Davis achieved a world ranking of 6th after winning World Cup gold at Bonn, silver in San Jose and bronze in St Petersburg. In 2019, Davis won the foil title at the British Fencing Championships.
His retirement follows an injury after the 2016 Olympics, where after surgery Davis explains he was then getting back-to-back injuries. Davis trained for his last Olympic cycle after it was pushed back to 2021 – because of Covid.
James recently gave a long interview to British Fencing, where he talked about trying for one last Olympic cycle. “I committed to it, got back in shape, got back into training hard again, with my club mates in Massialas, and just went from there. Unfortunately, more injuries were a big factor. That’s just part of sports and part of getting older.”
“I was half a point behind Kristjan Archer, my teammate, we’d been fighting all the way through the season of who would then go to the Zonals. Unfortunately, he won that battle, and I lost to my club mate, Alexander, who I’ve trained with for the last 10 years, so to end it with him, brought it full circle.”
“And it was a great battle. Of course, I wanted to qualify. Of course, I wanted to win the Olympics, but now I can say: Yep, I’m happy to move on. I feel like I’ve done everything that I could have that was in my ability.”
James intends to continue coaching the sport, as well as planning a new career as a firefighter:
“I’m fortunate, I’m married, I have a beautiful wife, and we’re very happy out here together. I feel like I very much have those family ties, you know, we want to have kids and these kind of things.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter, this is a long term process. I’ve got a lot of hurdles along the way, but it’s something for me to focus on. I’m really looking forward to taking to the next step.”
Read James’s full interview here on The Sword online: James-Andrew Davis Interview
Don’t miss the latest news. Subscribe to our weekly summary email, The Fencing Digest, including the previous week’s latest news and announcements. Sign up here.
Sign up to receive regular highlights from the exciting world of fencing - celebrating the best of our unique and inspiring community