Perhaps you recognize Anne Cebula from the runway—the native New Yorker has modeled for Khaite, Marc Jacobs, and Tory Burch. But Cebula is in Paris this summer for a much different reason from most models: to compete in the 2024 Olympics.
Cebula was first inspired to try fencing at 10 years old, when she watched a bout from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “It was a men’s team saber match for the silver medal, and Keeth Smart nailed the final touch, 45-44, against Russia. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen—the emotions, the aesthetics,” she says. “At that time, the masks had clear slits for the eyes so you could even see some of emotion before they ripped them off. It was like an opera and I loved it—even though I had no clue what was going on.”
When she asked her parents to enroll her in fencing, they shut it down. “It is expensive to start out in, and they believed that it was just something that I temporarily got excited about because it flashed on TV. In reality, I kept it in the back of my mind, and when I turned 15, one of the reasons why I chose the public high school that I did was because they had a free fencing program,” she says. “And the rest is history.”
Cebula’s modeling career is almost cosmically intertwined with her fencing; she was first scouted on the way to fencing practice. Her parents encouraged her to finish school before considering modeling, and while she received offers from agencies after graduating high school, she declined them to pursue a degree at Barnard. “Revisiting offers from agencies post-graduation was always in the back of my mind. So, when COVID hit my senior year, it was good timing to reach out. My top choice was Elite, and they were very welcoming to me, even though I was nervous that I was too old to be a new face—they found this funny, but I swear!,” she says.
With so many hats to wear, Cebula has been careful to create boundaries for herself. “What helped me keep my sanity was trying to be distinct with my time. If I am at fencing practice, I am a fencer, not a model in that moment,” she says. “It’s amazing to have multiple identities, and sometimes it helps to use one identity in a space different than what it’s meant for, but sometimes that can be exhausting.”
At her first Olympics, Cebula defeated her Italian opponent Rossella Fiamingo in the first round of epee at the Grand Palais before striking out in the second round. She will compete with the rest of Team USA later this week, however. “I am retiring after this, so I am most excited to leave it all out there on the strip, and show off all the hard work I’ve put in over the years,” she says. “I am really excited to try and medal in the team event! We have put in so much effort towards this cause over the past couple of years.”
Here, Anna Cebula takes Vogue behind the scenes of the Olympic Village and along for the rainy opening ceremony.
