Roland Asselin

A master of the foil, sabre, and épée, fencer Roland Asselin competed in 12 different events over the course of his Olympic career, but never reached the final pool of any of them. His most prolific Games were the 1948 Summer Olympics, where he participated in the individual and team competitions for all three weapons and, although he was not a member of the team events, remained a participant in the individual tournaments for the three styles at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Games. He had more success at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, however, winning a gold medal in the team sabre event (with Carl Schwende and the non-Olympian Leslie Krasa), a silver medal in the team épée event (with Carl Schwende and Edward Brooke), a bronze medal in the team foil event (with Carl Schwende and the non-Olympian J.A. Howard), and finished seventh in the individual épée at the 1954 edition. In 1958 tournament Asselin won again silver with the épée team (with Carl Schwende and John Andru), finished fourth with the sabre team (with Carl Schwende and John Andru), and also competed with the foil team (with Carl Schwende and John Andru). During the 1940s, when not actively competing, he was fencing instructor at the Palestre Nationale fencing hall in Montreal and later joined the Canadian Merchant Navy. Afterwards he moved to the United States, joining the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and, in the 1960s, he founded an organization to champion for the causes of Olympians who did not win any medals.