Bartosz Piasecki can claim to be Norway’s most successful Olympic fencer of all-time — his silver medal in the individual epee tournament at the 2012 Games in London remains the best result ever achieved in the discipline by a Norwegian, easily bettering the previous best of 11th place, set way back in 1984. He also won bronze at the 2015 European Games. Now retired, he works as a coach for the Norwegian Fencing Federation and as a science teacher at an Oslo secondary school.

Piasecki was born in Tczew, Poland, in December 1986, but his family relocated to Norway when he was just two years old. His father Mariusz was a 12-time medallist at the Polish Championships who had also represented his country internationally. His son taking up the sport seemed natural, but Bartosz chose to represent his adopted Norway in international competitions.

After earning his first international medal at the U23 European Championships in 2009, the greatest success of Piasecki’s career was undoubtedly his silver medal in the individual epee tournament at the 2012 London Olympics. The medal had a national significance for being far and away the best result a Norwegian fencer had ever achieved in the 112 years that epee fencing had been an Olympic sport. After winning bronze at the 2015 European Games, he called time on his career and moved into coaching.