Nov. 5, 2009

Stanford, Calif. - Stanford fencing will be hosting two former Olympians for some motivational speaking on Friday, Nov. 6, at 4:00 pm. Barbara Higgins a former Panamanian Olympic fencer and Marilyn King, an Olympian in track and field will be speaking to the Stanford fencing team.

Both athletes have overcome adversity in their lives and will speak to the Stanford team about overcoming obstacles in motivational and inspirational talks.

The talks will take place in the Stanford Fencing Salle, located in the downstairs of the Arillaga Center for Sports and Recreation, but is not open to the public.

After her career as an Olympic fencer in the foil, Higgins became an attorney and now owns an international sports marketing company.

King is a two-time Olympic Champion in the pentathlon. She attended Cal-State Hayward and later became the first women's track and field coach at UC-Berkeley. Later, King co-founded the UN Olympic Peace Team. Most recently, King was the Event Coordinator for fencing at the 2009 Senior Games, hosted by Stanford.

The Stanford fencing team opens the season on November 14, when they host the Western Invitational.