Kamara James

Kamara James

2004 Fencing Olympians from Peter Westbrook Foundation, Keeth Smart, Erinn Smart, Ivan Lee, and Kamara James on far right
Personal information
Full name	Kamara Latoya James
Born	(1984-11-23)November 23, 1984 Kingston, Jamaica
Died	September 20, 2014(2014-09-20) (aged 29) Modesto, California, United States
Residence	Modesto, California
Height	5–5.5 (167 cm)
Weight	134 lb (61 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Fencing
Event(s)	women's individual épée
College team	Princeton University
Club	Peter Westbrook Foundation
Retired	2004
Achievements and titles
World finals	bronze medal (junior world championships; 2003)
Highest world ranking	50

Kamara Latoya James (November 23, 1984 – September 20, 2014) was an American Olympic épée fencer.

James was born in Kingston, Jamaica, into a single-parent household. Her family moved to Jamaica, Queens, New York, when she was 10. She was given a full fencing scholarship to The Dwight School, an independent college preparatory school. She then attended Princeton University on a full academic scholarship.

James began fencing at age 11, through the Peter Westbrook Foundation. In 2003, she won a bronze medal at the junior world championships.

She competed in the women's individual épée event at the 2004 Summer Olympics. James died at age 29, in September 2014.

James, who was Black, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1984, into a single-parent household. Her parents separated before she was born; she met her father only once during her childhood. Her mother, Sandra Fernandez, remarried to Delano Fernandez when James was 7.

The family moved to Jamaica, Queens, New York, three years later. She attended Public School 3 in Greenwich Village. James' stepfather died of brain cancer two years later, in 1996. James was given a full fencing scholarship to The Dwight School, an independent college preparatory school located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where annual tuition was $28,000.