Valentina Vezzali – fencer (2025)

Police officer is Italy’s most successful female athlete

Valentina Vezzali – fencer (1)
Valentina Vezzali won nine Olympic medals, including six
golds, making her one of fencing's all-time greats

The fencer Valentina Vezzali, whose three Olympic and sixWorld Championship individual gold medals make her Italy’s most decoratedfemale athlete of all time, was born on this day in 1974 in the town of Iesi inMarche.

The 44-year-old police officer, who also sits in the ItalianChamber of Deputies as a representative for Marche, retired from competitionafter the 2016 World Championships.

Her haul of six Olympics golds in total – three individualand three from the team event – has not been bettered by any Italian athlete,male or female.

Two other Italian fencers from different eras – Edoardo Mangiarotti and NedoNadi – also finished their careers with six golds. Fencing has far and awaybeen Italy’s most successful Olympic discipline, accruing 49 gold medals and125 medals in total, more than twice the number for any other sport.

Alongside the German shooter Ralf Schumann, the Slovakslalom canoeist Michal Martikán and the Japanese judo player Ryoko Tani,Vezzali is one of only four athletes in the history of the Summer Olympics tohave won five medals in the same individual event.

Valentina Vezzali – fencer (2)
Valentina Vezzali sits in the
Italian Chamber of Deputies

She is married to the former professional footballerDomenico Giugliano, with whom she has two sons, 12-year-old Pietro andfour-year-old Andrea, who was born in May 2013. A few months earlier, Valentina having won her finalOlympic gold in the team event at London 2012, where she was also the Italianflag bearer at the opening ceremony.

Born into a family originally from Emilia-Romagna – herfather was from Correggio and her mother from Quattro Castella – she grew up inIesi in the province of Ancona and took up fencing when she was just six yearsold.

By the time she made her Olympic debut at the Atlanta Gamesof 1996, Vezzali had already achieved an impressive collection of medals,including a string of golds in junior European and World Championships and herfirst senior gold, in the team event at the 1995 World Championships.

Her Olympic success story began immediately with team goldand individual silver in Atlanta. Sheachieved double gold at the Sydney Games of 2000, defending her individualtitle successfully in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, which made her theonly fencer in Olympic history to win individual gold at three consecutiveGames.

In addition her nine Olympic medals won, including a silver and two bronze, at the WorldChampionships Vezzali won 15 gold medals (6 individual and 9 teams), fivesilver and four bronze, plus 13 European championship golds, four silver andfour bronze.

Valentina Vezzali – fencer (3)
Vezzali with her team gold medal at the
2014 World Championships

Vezzali won fencing’s World Cup 11 times, running up arecord 67 match victories. She also numbered two golds at the MediterraneanGames, four at the Universiade and 20 Italian titles (11 individual and 9teams). The Italian sports newspaper,Gazzetta dello Sport, made her their Italian sportswoman of the year on sixoccasions.

Since joining the Polizia di Stato – the municipal policeforce - in which she has risen to the rank of superintendent, Vezzali hascompeted for the Fiamme Oro, the police sports team.

She had hoped to compete in a sixth Olympics in Rio diJaneiro in 2016 but failed to qualify for the individual competition, while theGames on this occasion did not include a team event.

A celebrity in Italy – she participated in the 2009 seriesof Ballando con le Stelle (Dancing with the Stars), the Italian version of thehit UK show Strictly Come Dancing – she launched her political career with the2013 general election, winning a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.

Campaigning on issues that included sport and physicaleducation, health and nutrition and women’s rights, she was elected under thebanner of Scelta Civica (Civic Choice), the centrist party founded by formerprime minister Mario Monti, although she has since distanced herself from theparty over their decision to support Silvio Berlusconi’s more right-leaningForza Italia at this year’s elections.

Valentina Vezzali – fencer (4)
The Palazzo Pianetti in Iesi

Travel tip:

Situated about 20km (12 miles) inland from the Adriaticcoast, Vezzali’s home town of Iesi is impressive for the massive walls thatsurround its medieval centre, which is built on Roman foundations on a ridgeoverlooking the valley of the Esino river. The centre of the town is theattractive Piazza Federico II, where a regular market is held, and there are anumber of interesting palaces, towers and churches, including aRomanesque-Gothic cathedral.

Valentina Vezzali – fencer (5)
A porticoed street in Correggio

Travel tip:

The small town of Correggio, where Vezzali’s familyoriginated, can be found in the Po valley, about 20km (12 miles) northeast ofReggio Emilia. An interesting town fullof history, it is thought to have developed around an 11th centurycastle. Although the original walls were demolished as the town expanded, muchof the medieval centre remains. The town was the home of the Renaissance artistAntonio Allegri, also known as Correggio, to whom a monument was created by thesculptor Vincenzo Vela in Piazza Quirino.

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