Philadelphia Native Maia Weintraub is Product of a ‘Tiger Mom’ and Now An Olympic Gold Medalist in Fencing
![Maia Weintraub](https://montco.today/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Maia_Weintraub.jpg)
Maia Weintraub is a 2022 NCAA women’s foil champion and now a member of the gold medal-winning 2024 U.S. Olympic fencing team.
Her success in sports and in life can be heavily credited to her mother, writes Mike Sielski for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“My mom’s pretty intense,” Weintraub said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of the stereotypical Asian Tiger Mom. That is her. But I don’t think I would have gotten here without that.”
From fifth grade on, Weintraub would make up each morning at 5 AM to run on a treadmill for 30 to 40 minutes a day.
Growing up, Maia spoke Spanish and Mandarin and learned the violin. She played little league soccer and was then admitted to Temple’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians.
At the age of 11, Weintraub that fencing was her purest passion. She learned from Mark Masters, founder of the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia.
He praises her for her demeanor and ability to maintain her composure and cool even while teetering on the edge of defeat.
“She is a money player,” Masters said. “She fences better under the pressure of the battle.”
Now, Weintraub is an NCAA champion, world champion, and Olympic gold medalist majoring in ecology and molecular biology at Princeton University.
Read more about Maia Weintraub’s journey in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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