SINGAPORE – The Paris Olympics will be a special family affair for national fencer Amita Berthier, as the 23-year-old prepares for her second outing in the multi-sport showpiece.

In her debut at Tokyo 2020, her family was not able to travel to Japan as spectators were banned from stadiums during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This time, they will get to see the youngest Berthier in action. With the July 26-Aug 11 Games held in France – the country of birth of her late father Eric – her grandparents Guy and Danielle, who are in their 80s, will be making the trip from Lyon to join her mother Uma and her three older siblings.

Berthier said: “I know they’re supportive regardless of my results and I think they’re just looking forward to seeing me compete. They haven’t watched me in three years and now they’re watching me at the biggest stage of fencing.”

She hopes to give them more to cheer about, after making history in 2021 by becoming the first Singaporean fencer to qualify for the Olympics on merit. She was later joined by teammate and epee fencer Kiria Tikanah.

Her debut and opening-round exit – she was knocked out in the table of 32 in Tokyo by eventual gold medallist Lee Kiefer of the United States – has only fuelled her ambition.

She said: “It was a bit disappointing but humbling at the same time because I was just very grateful to be there in the presence of all the top athletes in the world, but also to understand that I still have a long way to go to reach the top.

“I wanted to come back to the next Olympics as a contender rather than a participant because that’s how I felt at the last cycle.”

A top-eight finish is the goal for the 2023 Asian championships bronze medallist, though the highly competitive athlete added that she would be “happy (but) not satisfied” with that result.

Drawing inspiration from Singapore’s only Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling, who announced his retirement this week, Berthier said: “I’m preparing myself physically now but the most important is to be mentally strong to know that on that day itself, it doesn’t matter if I’m ranked one or 56, anybody can beat anybody.”

To achieve her goal, Berthier, who was based in the United States over the past few years, has returned to Singapore to work with national foil head coach Oleg Matseichuk.

He was one of the factors for her relocation, as her previous coach Amgad Khazbak also works with Kiefer and cannot be in Berthier’s corner during the Olympics and world championships owing to a conflict of interest.

While studying in the US, Berthier also worked with former Tunisian Olympic bronze medallist Ines Boubakri for a year, but stopped in August 2023 as she found it difficult to work with so many coaches.

Matseichuk, who was appointed in November 2023 on a five-year contract, comes with an impressive CV.

During his time with the Japanese national team from 2003 to 2021, the Ukrainian led them to two silvers – in Beijing 2008 (Yuki Ota) and London 2012 (men’s team).

In the lead-up to the Paris Games, the duo is focused on strength and conditioning, which takes up nine out of 10 training sessions a week.

Berthier will also compete in the Fencing World Cups in Georgia, Hong Kong and Shanghai, the Asian championships in Kuwait, and travel to Japan and Poland for training camps.

Missing out on a medal after a 15-11 loss in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Asian Games was a “knife to my heart”, but the world No. 28 Singaporean has been given a timely confidence boost after qualifying for the Olympics via individual ranking points.

She said: “In the past, I was like they (opponents) probably think it’s an easy bout getting a Singaporean. But over time, right now, people are afraid to fence us... people finally respect us.

“I need to remember that and bring that confidence into the match because I don’t have anything to lose. I just gave too many of my opponents a lot of respect on the strip... now I’m going in knowing that they are nervous to face me too.”

Matseichuk has backed her for success on the piste, adding: “She has very high potential and her skills are world standard. There are still some things to work on in terms of physical abilities but technically she’s good, she has good experience so we’ll work on improving everything.”