At 3 a.m., only a few hours before the start of the 2014 NCAA Fencing Championships March 21, Fatima Largaespada woke up feeling sick.
The then-junior foil tried to ignore the discomfort, but to no avail. In the minutes leading up to the competition at Ohio State University, she could barely warm up.
“I was feeling like really, really bad, and throughout the tournament, I was like, ‘Just forget about it. Just forget about it,’” Largaespada said. “Every bout I was reminding myself, ‘You can do this. You can do this,’ even though I was feeling really sick.