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The Rush: Olympian Miles Chamley-Watson is proud to be the Dennis Rodman of fencing

Olympic fencer Miles Chamley-Watson joins Jared to discuss how it’s fencing’s time to shine, how he’s the Dennis Rodman of fencing, and how one positive side effect of the Olympic postponement is all of the time he’s been able to devote to the Black Lives Matter movement. PLUS: Miles gives The Rush an exclusive look at his fresh Rosa Parks tattoo.

Video Transcript

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JARED QUAY: What's up, everybody? I'm joined by Red Bull Olympic fencer Miles Chamley-Watson. Yo, Miles. What's going on, brother? How you doing?

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: I'm doing great, my man. Thank you for having me. Great to meet you, great to see you. We're just holding it down over here on the West Coast.

- West side.

JARED QUAY: Fencing is obviously the perfect sport for this pandemic. Think about it. You gotta wear a mask. And if anyone gets too close to 'em, you stab 'em with a sword. Is this fencing's year? Can people get into fencing this year? Can it become one of the five major sports?

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: So first, funny you brought that up. Because I've probably gotten about 7,000 messages from meme, that everybody keeps saying fencing is the perfect sport for COVID. So yes, I definitely think this is the year. It would have been the year where I think, you know, the Olympics sort of thing. But I do think fencing's getting some more buzz.

JARED QUAY: Recently we heard you've been called the Dennis Rodman of fencing, which is a great title, by the way. Is your game like "the Worm's?"

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: Michael Jordan is the GOAT in my opinion. But Dennis Rodman is so fascinating to me. And I always loved how he approached the game. People think it's easy. But he literally never changed who he was and still delivered.

Obviously I hope you saw "The Last Dance," but he literally went to Vegas. So I always loved him. And I don't want to be compared to anybody. But the Worm's not a bad person to be associated with.

- Not too shabby.

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: And I'd love to meet him. Obviously my hair is dark for the first time in six years.

JARED QUAY: Whoa, whoa. OK, I thought you was gonna be blonde.

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: People always have told me that that's it all been because I have tattoos. I'm very different. I've got a lot more flair, which I'm not gonna complain about. So that comparison is for sure true.

JARED QUAY: There was a bunch of NBA fans who promised to get tattoos if the Brooklyn Nets beat the Milwaukee Bucks the other day. Well, guess what. The Milwaukee Bucks got upset, the biggest upset in NBA history. And now the Nets' Twitter handle is asking fans about them tattoos. You gotta a bunch of ink on you, some dope tattoos.

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: Thank you.

JARED QUAY: Are any of those from losing a bet?

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: No. I have never, ever had a tattoo that I regret or on one of "those" nights.

JARED QUAY: You had to think about that for a second, man.

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: I did. I've had some wild nights. I'm like, "wait, have I?" No, but I got some great tats with stories. But I've never, ever tattooed someone's face or a picture or something like that. Never done that.

JARED QUAY: What's the most recent one, man? They always ask you when they all sleeved up? What's the recent one?

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: First glimpse-- I just got Rosa Parks on the back of my leg. No one's seen it.

JARED QUAY: Show it to us right now. Nah, I'm joking. I'm joking. Here it goes.

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: Yo, I don't think you can see it. Can you see?

JARED QUAY: Nah, it's cool. It's cool. I didn't think you was gonna do it. You are the Dennis Rodman of fencing. A lot of your Instagram posts are dedicated to social justice, specifically Black Lives Matter. Do you think that it's kind of a silver lining that the Olympic's not happening gave you more time to shine a light on the things that you're passionate about?

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: Now is the time when I can really sit down and think about what I want to say, my message. 'Cause I got loads of kids who message me all the time about just getting bullied at school for being a black fencer. And they show them pictures of me and it changes their whole perception. And I'm like-- "all right, now it's bigger than just me."

JARED QUAY: Man, thank you for doing this interview, man. You are dope as hell. I can't wait till 2021 so you can bring back that gold to America.

MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON: Thank you, man. Thank you. Everybody be safe. Pleasure to meet you, man. See you soon.