They don’t see her left hand coming. Swift and explosive. Her opponents talk of how she doesn’t ease up. She keeps coming, thrusting, advancing. “I can pressure my opponent,” she says.
Alexandra Ndolo is an astute fencer of international repute. Earlier in her career, she represented Germany, including at six World Championships. In 2022, she switched allegiances to Kenya, the land of her father, and became the first female fencer to represent the country at a World Cup event—Glaive de Tallinn in Estonia.
“The athleticism has always been in the family,” she says. “My mother rode horses in her youth. My father walked with us everywhere. When I was 10, I started doing pentathlon—swimming, shooting, fencing, horseback riding, running… it’s the fencing that really caught me.”
The call to connect with her roots grew louder over the years. That homeward pull led her to co-found the Kenya Fencing Federation, where she now sits on the board. The organisation was granted membership to the International Fencing Federation (FIE) in 2019.
"I’m optimistic — trusting and believing in myself helps me stay positive in crucial moments."
Beyond the boardroom, she’s also helped establish fencing schools in Nairobi and championed scholarship programmes for Kenyan and African fencers.
“Not all countries in Africa have fencing federations yet,” she says. “And even those that do, like Kenya, are still very young. But I see it as a chance—we’re fresh, we’re new. We can look at the rest of the world.”
Her eyes are now set on the next Olympic Games. After that, she wants to build fencing in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa as big as possible.
“I’m very optimistic. As you get older, obviously you not only have wins but also losses under your belt. And to stay positive and trust and believe in yourself in the crucial moments is not an easy thing to do. But I think my optimism and my belief in myself helps me do that.”
-Jackson Biko