Maxine Esteban

At present, Esteban is globally ranked 39th, per the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime.

She also took part in the World Seniors Cup in Tauberbiscofsheim Germany where she finished 44th in foil.

She was also the country's highest-ranked fencer at 62nd in the world.

Maxine Isabel Esteban (born November 26, 2000 ) is a Filipino–Ivorian fencer.

She is a 2023 African bronze medalist in women's foil.

Esteban represented the Philippines before transferring to the Ivory Coast as a naturalized citizen in 2022.

At the Asian Fencing Championship, she finished 11th in foil, the highest among the all Philippine delegation competitors.

She competed at the 2022 World Fencing Championships in July but suffered a ACL and PCL injury.

She would be fit again by the start of 2023.

The injury would render her unable to participate in qualifiers for both international and national events costing her a place in the Philippine national team.

This led to her switching sporting nationality for reasons that would be publicly disclosed after the move was complete.

She felt disrespected by the Philippine federation she has tried to kept competing for the Philippines for as long as "humanly possible".

She has requested the federation to allow her to skip qualifiers due to her injury but was removed from the national team.

Esteban alleged there has been double standards, with other Filipino fencers who skipped the qualifiers still retaining their respective spots.

Esteban would be given Ivorian citizenship through naturalization.

In May 2023, she switched her sporting nationality to be able to represent Ivory Coast internationally.

She was ranked 16th at the peak of her junior career and 62nd in the senior category, the highest ever for a Filipino fencer.

During her tenure under the Philippine flag, she became a 2017 Southeast Asian foil bronze medalist, as well as a 2019 and 2021 team foil silver medalist.

Esteban also competed at the Southeast Asian Games, having won a bronze medal in the 2017 edition for the Philippines in foil.

Esteban studied at the Immaculate Conception Academy in Greenhills for high school, graduating in 2018.

She pursued a course in management engineering at the Ateneo de Manila University.

She later attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated with an undergraduate degree in applied arts and science, achieving summa cum laude honors in 2023.

As a child, Esteban initially pursued an interest in figure skating at the ice skating rink in SM Megamall.

However, due to the rink's closure and a lack of nearby alternatives, she dropped the sport and instead convinced her parents to allow her to enter a fencing club at Xavier School.

Esteban then began her fencing career at age 12 by competing in local competitions.

Esteban competed for the Ateneo Blue Eagles fencing team at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

She was named Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player for Season 81 in 2018.

After dominating her matches with two gold medals, Esteban led the Ateneo Women's Fencing team to win the UAAP Season 81 overall championships breaking the 11-year reign of the University of the East.

In the following year, she was conferred the Moro Lorenzo Award for Excellence in Sports, as well as the Lady Eagle of the Year Awardee by her own university.

At the 2018 FIE Junior World Cup in Guatemala City, she won a bronze medal.

She also clinched a bronze and silver in the team foil event with teammates in the 2019 and 2021 editions respectively.

She aspires to qualify for the Olympics.

Esteban last competed for the Ateneo in February 2020, where she defended her title in the women's foil individual event.

The university ultimately placed third in the UAAP Season 82 fencing tournament.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all sporting events for Season 83 were cancelled.

Esteban competed in women's foil and represented the Philippines until 2022.

Her family tapped the service of Italian coach Andrea Magro in 2020 to aid her training.

Esteban became the first Filipino to win a medal in a FIE satellite event when she finished as a bronze medalist at the 2021 FIE Tournoi Satellite in Copenhagen, Denmark.

She also won the silver medal in the FIE satellite event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

She took part in the 2022 World Seniors Cup in Serbia where she finished 38th in foil.