Catherine Bouwkamp

Club: IndySabre, Denver Fencing Center
Coaches: Val Kizik, Nathan Anderson, Les Stawicki and Mickey Zeljkovic
Occupation: Intern, U.S. Paralympics
Family: Parents Alan and Janet Bouwkamp
Hobbies: Hammocking, wheelchair basketball, hanging out with her dog Roscoe and Netflix comedies
Favorite Fencing Memory: Competing at the 2012 Paralympic Games with her teammates
Current Paralympic Qualifying Ranking: No. 39 (Category A Saber), No. 41 (Category A Epee), No. 48 (Category A Foil)
Honors:

• 11-time Wheelchair National Champion

Wheelchair World Championship Teams: 2019, 2013 (Bronze - Saber), 2011, 2010
Pan American Wheelchair Championship Teams: 2011 (Gold - Foil, Silver - Epee)
Bouwkamp’s experience as an able-bodied fencer helped her earn quick success on the international wheelchair scene where she won National Championships in all three weapons as a 14-year-old in 2010 and defended all three golds in 2011. Although Bouwkamp trained as a saber fencer, women's saber was not contested at the Paralympic Games and she has added foil and epee to her repetoire. 
After qualifying for the London Paralympic Games as the youngest member of the USA Fencing Team, Bouwkamp won bronze at the Wheelchair World Championships in August 2013 in the combined saber event.

Personal

A former able-bodied fencer who was nationally ranked in the Y12 and Y10 age groups, Bouwkamp was born with fibular hemimelia – a condition in which the muscles in her right leg never fully developed. Bouwkamp says that the "muscles in my right leg will always be much weaker than the muscles in my left leg and, when I was born, my leg was two and a half inches shorter than the other one. So at the time I was approached for wheelchair fencing, I had a limb that was shorter than the other one, I was basically missing a muscle in my leg and I had club foot, flat foot which means my ankle doesn’t rotate whatsoever and that foot’s two shoe sizes smaller than the other one. I was still on the national points list as a Y10 fencer, but as I got older, everyone got better and I was getting farther and farther behind.”

Results

2019:

• Ninth - Wheelchair World Championships (Team Epee)
• Ninth - Wheelchair World Championships (Team Foil)
• Ninth - Wheelchair World Championships (Team Saber)
• 27th - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Epee)
• 28th - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Saber)
• 35th - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Foil)

2014:

• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Foil)
• Sixth - Montreal Wheelchair Grand Prix (Category A Foil)
• Eighth - Montreal Wheelchair Grand Prix (Category A Epee)

2013:

• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Foil)
• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Saber)
• Gold - October North American Cup (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - October North American Cup (Wheelchair Foil)
• Bronze - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Saber)
• Eighth - Warsaw Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Saber)
• Ninth - Wheelchair World Championships (Team Epee)
• 16th - Warsaw Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee)
• ​26th - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Epee)

2012:

• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Foil)
• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Saber)
• Gold - March North American Cup (Wheelchair Saber)
• Gold - March North American Cup (Wheelchair Foil)
• Gold - December North American Cup (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - December North American Cup (Wheelchair Foil)
• Bronze - March North American Cup (Wheelchair Men's Epee)
• Bronze - Warsaw Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Saber)
• Bronze - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Saber)
• Sixth - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)
• 12th - Paralympic Games (Category A Foil)
• 16th - Warsaw Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)

2011:

• Gold - Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Foil)
• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - USA Fencing National Championships (Wheelchair Foil)
• Gold - North American Cup D (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - North American Cup D (Wheelchair Foil)
• Silver - Pan American Wheelchair Championships (Epee)
• 10th - Malaga Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee)
• 19th - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Foil)
• 19th - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee)
• 20th - Warsaw Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee)
• 20th - Warsaw Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)
• 22nd - Malaga Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)
• 23rd - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Epee)
• 23rd - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)

2010:

• Gold - North American Cup A (Wheelchair Epee)
• Gold - North American Cup A (Wheelchair Foil)
• Gold - North American Cup A (Wheelchair Saber)
• Gold - North American Cup E (Wheelchair Saber)
• Gold - North American Cup E (Wheelchair Foil)
• Silver - North American Cup E (Wheelchair Epee)
• Bronze - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Epee)
• Sixth - Wheelchair World Championships (Category A Saber)
• Sixth - Montreal Wheelchair World Cup (Category A Foil)

2009:

• Bronze - Warsaw Wheelchair World Cup (Saber)

2008:

• 33rd - USA Fencing National Championships (Y12 Saber)

2007:

• Sixth - USA Fencing National Championships (Y10 Saber)
• 20th - USA Fencing National Championships (Y12 Saber)