Catherine's Story
Catherine Pym was one of the six members of the Australian fencing team for the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki.
After finishing her Leaving Certificate at PLC Sydney in 1938, Pym didn't want to go to university, so she went to the Swords Club and completed a two-year diploma program that qualified her to be a “Games Mistress” so that she could teach sports in schools. It was at the Swords Club that she learned to fence and became captivated in the sport.
Pym lived in Paris for two years and in 1948 attained the Maître d’Armes, the highest qualification a fencer can achieve, from the Academie d’Armes.
She competed in the British Empire Games in Auckland in 1950, where she earned a bronze medal in the Women’s Individual Foil event.
At the Helsinki Games, Pym was eliminated in the first round of the Individual Foil, placing 30th overall out of 37 competitors.
