Caitlin Bilodeaux-Banos

Caitlin Bilodeaux was a star high school athlete at Concord-Carlisle HS in Massachusetts, earning All-American honors in lacrosse and she was an All-State player in soccer. Bilodeaux fenced at Columbia University and the New York Fencers’ Club, after twice winning the US Junior Championship while in high school. In high school she had played lacrosse and soccer, and would also play soccer for two years at Columbia. During her college career Bilodeaux won NCAA Championships in foil in 1985 and 1987, and was a four-time All-American. She was also four-time Eastern Collegiate Champion, with her best year coming as a junior when she posted a 56-0 mark.

Bilodeaux competed at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, as Caitlin Bilodeaux in 1988 and as Caitlin Banos in 1992, after marrying Canadian Olympic fencer Jean-Marie Banos. She competed at the 1987 and 1991 Pan American Games, winning four medals, with gold in individual foil in 1987, and team foil in 1987 and 1991. She also won bronze in individual foil in 1991.

Bilodeaux-Banos was named Columbia’s Athlete of the Decade for Fencing in 1991, and their Athlete of the 20th Century for Fencing in 1999. She was the first recipient of Columbia’s Distinguished Achievement Award in Athletics in 1987, and in 1988 received the college’s John Jay Award for Distinguished Achievement. She was inducted into the US Fencing Hall of Fame in 2002 and in 2006 was named to the inaugural class of the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame. Bilodeaux-Banos settled in Canada with her husband, and two children, where she later became human resources manager for IKEA in Canada.