 No foiling this Italian stunner
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-12 08:54 Italian fencer Maria Valentina Vezzali slaked her thirst for victory by defeating South Korea's Nam Hyun-hee in a final bout yesterday to become the first fencer in Olympic history to win three individual foil golds in three consecutive Games. After the emotional victory, the 34-year-old Vezzali broke down and fell to the floor.
In addition to golds in Sydney, Athens and now Beijing, Vezzali also took the silver in this event at the 1996 Atlanta Games and has two gold medals in the team foil competition. The Italian needed to overcome a fierce Nam in the gold medal match and was able to pull out a 6-5 victory. Vezzali jumped out to a 3-0 lead against her opponent, but Nam tied the bout at 3-3. The fencers were also knotted at 4-4 and 5-5 before Vezzali registered the winning touch four seconds before the match was set to go to overtime. "I could never lose my motivation, there are always new records to reach," the fencer had told Reuters earlier. Vezzali is back after giving birth to a son, Pietro, in 2005 and undergoing knee surgery in 2006. She did not miss a beat on her return to competition, shooting back to the top of the world rankings. "It was really hard, but the will to come back to competition was so strong that I've been able to overcome the difficulties," she said in a recent interview. Born on Valentine's Day, Vezzali started fencing to emulate her sister Natalie in their 40,000-strong hometown of Jesi, 300km north of Rome and with a rich fencing tradition. Vezzali's exploits have increased the profile of her sport in Italy where her striking features often grace the covers of magazines - most recently the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. An assistant police officer in her off-piste life, Vezzali may continue her career in law enforcement after retiring from fencing or work with the Italian National Olympic Committee. "I don't think I'm going to give up for the moment," she said. "I just want to reach London 2012, this is my objective."
Nam picked up the silver medal after finishing eighth at the Athens Games. Italy also secured bronze in this event as Margherita Granbassi defeated her countrywoman Giovanna Trillini, 15-12. Agencies (China Daily 08/12/2008 page13) |
