Oscar-Nominated Composer Laura Karpman to Score LA28 Fencing Anthem — With Fencers at Her Side

Published May 6, 2026 · Updated September 21, 2026

USA Fencing commissioned Oscar-nominated composer Laura Karpman to compose the official fencing anthem for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A first for a sport

Per USA Fencing, this is the first time a sport has had its own Olympic and Paralympic anthem.

That framing is worth sitting with. Olympic music is normally national or ceremonial — an anthem belongs to a country, or to the Games themselves. Commissioning a piece for a single sport is a different idea: it treats fencing as something with its own identity worth scoring.

Who Laura Karpman is

The credits USA Fencing lists are substantial. Karpman composed the music for Marvel's Captain America: Brave New World, received an Oscar nomination for American Fiction, won a Grammy for an opera written for Carnegie Hall, and has won Emmys for work with Steven Spielberg.

In other words, this is not a novelty commission handed to someone adjacent to the sport. It is a working film and concert composer at the top of the field.

She fences

The detail that makes the story more than a press release: per USA Fencing, Karpman discovered fencing during the pandemic and has trained since.

USA Fencing's headline notes she will work "with fencers at her side," and the source includes her own comparison between fencing and music. We are not going to reproduce or paraphrase that comparison loosely here — the specific wording belongs to her, and the official article is the place to read it.

What can be said plainly is that the comparison is not a stretch. Both are timing disciplines. In saber especially, the fencer who wins an exchange is usually not the faster one but the one who chose the right moment, and that sense of when — not merely how quickly — is exactly what a musician trains.

Why an anthem is a growth tool

USA Fencing has spent this cycle building things that make the sport legible to people who do not fence: streaming, media partnerships, a hospitality house for LA28. A commissioned anthem fits the same pattern.

Broadcast sports are remembered partly through sound. A piece of music attached to fencing coverage is a small, cheap, durable way to make the sport feel established when a general audience meets it for the first time in the summer of 2028.

What it means for a club fencer

Practically, nothing changes at a Tuesday practice. No anthem improves your parry-riposte.

What it does change is the environment the sport will exist in two years from now. A kid who starts saber this year will be three seasons in when LA28 arrives, and the version of fencing that shows up on television will be more produced and more recognizable than anything the sport has had in the U.S. before. That is the wave families tend to join on — and the ones who are already training will simply be ahead of it.

The honest caveat

An anthem is a presentation decision, not a competitive one. It does not add strips, coaches, or club capacity anywhere. When a promotional milestone gets announced, the right reaction is mild interest rather than the sense that the sport has fundamentally changed.

The things that change a fencer's trajectory are unglamorous: how many lessons they take, how often they compete, and whether they are still in the sport in four years.

Train with us in Bethesda

Saber Nation is a saber-only club at 4701 Sangamore Road, Suite LL2, Bethesda, MD 20816. If LA28 is what has your family curious about the sport, start with a class — see our saber fencing classes in Bethesda or contact us.

Official USA Fencing source: Oscar-Nominated Composer Laura Karpman to Score LA28 Fencing Anthem — With Fencers at Her Side — published May 6, 2026.

Training options

Continue with Maison d'Escrime at the Biltmore for LA28 or More USA Fencing news or Saber fencing classes in Bethesda, MD.