Sada Jacobson is one of the most important figures in American female fencing. Twice ranked as the world number-one, she won medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, and Pan American Games. She also won the US National Championships twice, the NCAA Championships twice, won a gold medal at the World Junior Fencing Championhips, and was U19 National Champion. Unsurprisingly, she was inducted into the United States Fencing Hall of Fame. Apart from a brief comeback during the 2017/18 season, Jacobson retired as a competitor in 2008 (whilst ranked world number two). However, she remains active in the fencing community as is Honorary Chair of the Board of Directors at the Nellya Fencers training school in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jacobson was born in Rochester, Minnesota, in February 1983. Fencing runs in her family: her mother and father were competitive fencers — her father competed for the US National Team in the 1970s. Her younger siblings, Emily and Jackie are also noted fencers. She grew up in Georgia and began training at Nellya Fencers soon after it opened in 1990. She studied at the world-renowned Yale University and was NCAA sabre champion in 2001 and 2002, winning first-team All-American honours.

Aged 17, Jacobson joined the senior national fencing team. By June 2003, she had reached the top of the world rankings and stayed there for two seasons. In 2004 and 2006, she became US champion (beating her sister in the final of the former). She also made history in 2004 when she won bronze at the Olympic Games — the first time that sabre fencing had appeared in the Games. As Jacobson’s match came before the gold-medal match, she is technically the first sabre fencer to win an Olympic medal. She went one better at the 2008 Games, winning silver and team bronze.