Lee, a competitor in men’s sabre and a 2003 graduate of St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y., manages to fly under the radar even with some major hardware to his name. He captured the 2003 Pan American Games individual sabre gold medal and also owns the 2001 and 2002 NCAA Division I sabre individual titles. Even with this distinguished list of credentials, Lee shuns the spotlight.

“For me personally, I’m better off being in someone else’s shadow, because the less attention put on me the better,” said Lee. “When there is more attention on me and more eyes on me, it will be a little harder for me to fence. The less attention people put on me, the more attention they put on someone else and it is easier to fence.”

Lee, 22, is currently leading the U.S. qualification process for the 2004 Olympic Games. By his own admission, it would take an “absolute miracle” for him not to make the team, but nothing is official until April 1. Following a 12th-place finish at the 2003 World Championships, Lee is ready to play the role of spoiler in Athens.

“This is my first Olympic team; I’m definitely not among the favorites,” explained Lee. “I know I am capable of pretty much upsetting anyone in the world. I’m aiming for a medal; there is no question about it. I want to win this badly, but speaking realistically, I’d say making the top eight would be an excellent finish for me and anything else after that would be a blessing.”

Lee boasts confidence from experience. He has gone toe-to-toe with some of the world’s best, and won. Fellow U.S. National Team member and 2000 Olympian Keeth Smart fell victim to Lee at the 2001 NCAA Division I Championships as Ivan squeaked out a narrow 15-13 win over his former St. John’s teammate.

Much of the success enjoyed by Lee can be attributed to the Peter Westbrook Foundation, a place where he has been training since beginning the sport 10 years ago. The Foundation was started by the legendary U.S. fencer whose men’s sabre bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games was the last Olympic medal won in the sport by an American. Westbrook’s gymnasium, located on West 25th Street in New York City, opened in 1991 to allow inner-city children an opportunity to compete in a sport that has traditionally been an activity reserved for the privileged.

“If it wasn’t for the Foundation I wouldn’t even have any of the results I have today. The Foundation has taught me so much about family, sportsmanship, being a good teammate, having a strong work ethic, the list goes on. The Foundation not only made me the fencer that I am, it also made me the person that I am.”

Lee’s career began at age 12 when he followed his cousin to Westbrook’s facility for the first time.

“It was actually by chance. My cousin was fencing; to this day I still don’t know how he found out about it. I don’t have any brothers or sisters so growing up my cousin and I used to do everything together. At first I didn’t like the idea of getting stabbed, but as it turned out, I ended up catching on to it and enjoying it and he ended up quitting to do other things.”

Lee fenced through junior high and high school while pursuing other interests, such as baseball.

“By the time I got to high school, I was playing baseball and fencing. To excel in both would take up too much of my time and I could not devote enough of my time to both sports. My father convinced me that college scholarships are few and far between in baseball, but they’re practically throwing them away for fencing. So he convinced me to stick with fencing. I think it was a good decision.”

Lee parlayed his fencing abilities into a full scholarship to St. John’s University. He repaid his debt to the school by winning two individual national championships and leading the Red Storm to the team title in 2001, on a squad that included Keeth Smart.

Even after 10 years in the sport and 22 years on the planet, Ivan Lee still lists hitting people in the head as his favorite part of fencing.

“I enjoy that quite a bit.”