Ernie Simon

Ernie Simon competed in individual foil for Australia at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. He won a silver medal in team foil at the 1970 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Simon attended Wayne State University in the United States where he won the individual foil NCAA title in 1978, 1980, and 1981 and helped Wayne State win the overall team championship in 1979 and 1980. He was on the Fencing Academy of Michigan’s foil team that won the US team championship in 1979.

Simon later coached the Melbourne-based VRI Fencing Club before establishing the Melbourne Fencing Club in 1999. He would coach Seamus Robinson to become Australia’s first and only Cadet Épée World Champion in 1991. From 1999 to 2005, he also coached Vicky Wilks, who went on to become Australia’s first Veteran Épée World Champion in 2010.