1994–2014; competitive career

Lee was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, living in East Flatbush. He later lived in Cambria Heights, Queens, and Jamaica, Queens, in New York City.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} He began fencing in 1994 at the Peter Westbrook Foundation (PWF) in New York City, which he continued to represent throughout his competitive career along with the Fencers Club in Manhattan.^{[10][11][12][13][2][14]} Lee graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, in 1999.^[15][16]

He received a full athletic scholarship to St. John's University in Queens, New York.^[5] There, Lee won the NCAA individual sabre title in 2001 and 2002, and along with fellow future Olympian and longtime clubmate, friend, and sabre fencer Keeth Smart, helped lead the school to an NCAA national championship in 2001.^{[17][12][2][18]}

Lee was a member of the 2001 U.S. Junior World Sabre team.^[9] He anchored the team to its first men's world title at the 2001 Junior World Championships in Gdańsk, Poland, and also became the first man of African American descent to win a world fencing championship.^[19] He was awarded the USOC's Male Athlete of the Year Award for Fencing in 2001.^[20] He went on to win individual and team gold medals at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.^[21][2] He graduated from St. John's in January 2004 with a bachelor's degree in Journalism.^[14][2]

Lee was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team in Athens, Greece.^[22][23] He placed 12th in the individual competition and 4th in the team competition.^[24] To be successful in fencing, which he likened to physical chess, he said it was most important to be intelligent and "brutally aggressive."^[6]

After failing to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Team, Lee retired in 2008.^[19] Prior to his retirement, in 2008 he won his fifth U.S. Senior Championship, a title he had also won in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2006, but his poor results in international tournaments kept him from making the US Olympic Team.^[25][26][20] Lee was inducted into the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame in 2014.^[27][28] He has been a competitive veteran fencer, and won two consecutive national titles in Vet-40 men’s saber.^[29]

2015–23; college coach and USA Fencing Chair

Lee was the Head Coach of the Women's Fencing Team of Long Island University from March 2019 until December 1, 2023, when he resigned.^[30][31] It was his first coaching position, and he said: "I love coaching. It’s very rewarding."^[32] At the 2021 NCAA National Championship, his freshman fencer Laura Fekete -- whom he had recruited -- won the gold medal in épée, the first NCAA fencing championship in school history.^{[29][32][33][7][34]} In 2022 she won the bronze medal.^[35][29][32] Fekete said: "Ivan helped me with everything he could. He was always by my side."^[34]

Lee was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of USA Fencing in September 2023.^[30]

2023–present; suspension and arrest

Lee was suspended by USA Fencing on December 22, 2023, for his alleged conduct that would constitute a violation of the SafeSport Code.^[30] Lee resigned as Chairman of the Board when he was informed of his suspension.^[31] On January 4, 2024, his suspension was upheld by the U.S. Center for SafeSport (SafeSport). On January 16, 2024, SafeSport lifted his suspension, while it continued its investigation of Lee’s conduct, but it then reimposed it in February 2024.^[30]

Lee was arrested in February 2024 on forcible touching, sexual abuse, and harassment charges.^[36] They related to an incident in November 2023 in a college gym while he was the Head Coach of the Women's Fencing Team of Long Island University.^[30][37]

Police officer

Lee worked as a police officer in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from July 2008 until February 2022.^[32][14][38] He spent his first six years on the police force in the NYPD transit bureau, and his last seven years as a physical training instructor at the Police Academy.^[29]

Other

He also served as the Fencing Commissioner for the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) from 2008 to 2019.^[9] The PSAL is a scholastic athletic program that coordinates sports competitions for New York City public high schools.^[39]

He was a board member of the Rosalyn Yalow Charter School in the Bronx^[40] from 2014 until 2023. He has served as a deacon, administrator, and youth leader at his church, taught classes at PWF, mentored high school and college students at the USOC's F.L.A.M.E. (Finding Leaders Among Minorities Everywhere) program,^[19] and counseled teenagers at New Horizons Ministries.^[41]

He founded a fencing club called Naviblue Sports in New York.^[42] Lee has also been the Head Sabre Coach at Long Island Fencing Center in Carle Place, New York.^[43]