Home is where the heart is. And for Fil-Ivorian fencer Maxine Esteban, her heart will always beat proud for her home country, the Philippines.

The 23-year-old wunderkind may be representing her adopted country Ivory Coast, but she stressed she will always carry the Philippine flag in her heart as she competes in the singles’ event of the women’s foil in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“My heart will always be for the Filipinos,” said Esteban. 

“You cannot take that away from me. Every competition I would always look for the Philippine flag. You can never really erase that Filipino in me,” she added.

Esteban garnered enough points to become the highest-ranked fencer in the African continental zone, getting a direct qualification to the Paris Games and  becoming the first Filipino homegrown talent in the sport to secure a spot in the quadrennial meet.

She will be joined by good pal and former PH teammate Sam Catantan, giving the country a rare opportunity to see two Filipina fencers competing in the sports’ grandest stage.

“I always had this before that the talent of the Filipinos, sobrang daming talent talaga. As you can see Sam is a really great fencer and there are so many other potential fencers in the Philippines,” said Esteban.

She hopes that with her and Catantan’s qualification to the Olympics, more support and opportunities would open for aspiring Filipino fencers.

“I just hope that more people can support our Filipino fencers and athletes in general because there's really so much talent with the Filipinos,” Esteban said.

Asked about the possibility of fencing against Catantan, Esteban said she would rather have it in the later rounds of the tournament as she felt it would be great to see the two of them go deep in the competitions.

“I'm also looking forward to it, but hopefully I won't fence with her because of course, better na dalawang Filipina yung mag-advance. Baka sa finals na kami not in the early stages,” she offered with a smile on her face.

“It’s a competition just like everyone there, being an Olympian is already an honor and everyone there is a worthy opponent just like her,” she added.

Esteban was in the country for a quick respite after seeing action in the Shanghai Grand Prix last week. She flew back to Germany on Saturday, May 25 to continue her training before joining the Ivory Coast fencing team for the African Championship on June 6.

She is also set for training camps in Poland and France where she will get to train with the Japanese and French national teams.