Maxine Isabel Tiu Esteban born November 26, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] is a right-handed fencer. Born in the Philippines and representing Ivory Coast internationally since , she is the African silver medalist and a African bronze medalist in women's foil. Esteban represented the Philippines before transferring to the Ivory Coast as a naturalized citizen in She was also the country's highest-ranked fencer at 62nd in the world. As a child, Esteban initially pursued an interest in figure skating at the ice skating rink in SM Megamall , located in Mandaluyong , Metro Manila.
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 last competed for the Ateneo in February , where she defended her title in the women's foil individual event.
Esteban competed in women's foil and represented the Philippines until She was ranked 16th at the peak of her junior career and 62nd in the senior category, the highest ever for a Filipino fencer. Esteban also competed at the Southeast Asian Games , having won a bronze medal in the edition for the Philippines in foil.
She aspires to qualify for the Olympics. Her family tapped the service of Italian coach Andrea Magro in to aid her training. In April , the Philippine Fencing Association released a statement, reasoning that it was obliged to send only Samantha Catantan to the qualifiers out of merit results since and noted the waiver it had given to Esteban for her sporting nationality change. Esteban was given Ivorian citizenship through naturalization.
In May , she switched her sporting nationality to represent Ivory Coast internationally. The move was approved by the Philippine Fencing Association , which waived the three-year waiting period requirement, allowing her to compete for the African nation immediately.
