Italian Valentina Vezzali is one of the first female athletes that comes to mind in the foil branch of fencing. Valentina Vezzali filled her career with medals and then continued her work for female athletes in the Italian Parliament. Probably her beloved Maestro Triccoli and her father follow her proudly.
Jesi is a small city near Ancona in Italy. But don't worry about it being small. It is a very rich place in terms of history and culture. Whether you are looking for Roman Emperors born here, famous composers, or movie stars, there is a minimum amount of all of them.
Culture and history are okay, but they are not empty about sports either. For example, the famous football player and coach Roberto Mancini drank the water of these lands; he ate his fruits and vegetables. However, there is another branch in Jesi that makes everyone proud when mentioned in a sentence: fencing, in which many Olympic athletes have trained.
Maria Valentina Vezzali (born 14 February 1974) is an Italian politician and retired Olympic and World Champion foil fencer. As a fencer, Vezzali won six Olympic gold medals and was a 16-time World Champion in foil. She is one of only five athletes in the history of the Summer Olympic Games to have won five medals in the same individual event.
At the top of those fencers is Valentina Vezzali, who has a total of nine Olympic medals. Her story started with a little journey she took with her father.
The year is 1988. The setting is a city whose streets are traveled by gondolas: Venice. Father and daughter were admiring this city made of dreams, where they had come for a few days. Maybe they forgot why they were there for a while. They left themselves to the magic of the moment.
After a while, your father's strong coughs would shatter this dream. He was sick. His tired body could barely hold on, but he had a very good reason to hold on. His daughter, Valentina, was going to participate in fencing competitions that day. Her coaches said she was very talented. Even the legendary fencing coach in Jesi, Ezio Triccoli, nicknamed "maestro", had nice things to say about Valentina:
“Mr. Vezzali, don't worry. Valentina will be very famous. I guarantee you. As long as it continues like this.”
Maestro Triccoli was extremely sincere in what he said. Because Valentina showed that light as soon as she started this sport. She was used to winning almost from the very beginning, and she maintained this situation consistently. Of course, there would be some exams and she would have to overcome some difficulties. So much so that she would encounter the first of these at a young age.
Father Vezzali succumbed to his disease and died in 1989. Valentina, of course, was in great grief. However, she knew that her father would not leave her alone in every training and competition, just like when he was with her in Venice, despite his illness. Continuing her work with this feeling, Valentina would win her first championship in the World Junior Fencing Championship a week after her father's death.
“Valentina's strength comes from her vulnerability. The self-confidence she feels when she enters a competition conditions her to win. She actually has the opposite personality.
This is what journalist Marisa Poli said about Valentina. It is obvious that the great loss she experienced provided motivation in the opposite direction to her fragile nature. Because Valentina herself shares that in every victory, her father is somewhere there and she feels this.
Valentina, whose performance increased as she got older, was now pursuing bigger goals. She had a share in the team gold medal won at the 1996 Atlanta Games. However, the main thing for her was to be successful in the individual category as well. She would cross the first threshold of this goal at the World Championship in 1999. As Valentina became the World Champion for the first time in the individual category, her hope that she could do better also increased.
“I became World Champion for the first time in 1999, a year before the Sydney Games. From the moment I won my first championship, I was ready for the Olympic championship. “I knew my strength and with my coach Giulio by my side, I could win anything I wanted.”
And she won... Her individual Olympic adventure, which started in Sydney, brought her one victory after another. In fact, in her words, after her first Olympic championship, she realized what she could do and her level; she started to win the following competitions much more easily than the previous ones. So; With her performances in Sydney, Athens, and Beijing, she would become the first fencer to become champion in three consecutive Olympics.
“When you put the mask on your face, your tension turns into determination, suddenly everything seems possible.”
At the age of 37, she was walking at the front of the procession when he participated in the 2012 London Olympics for her fourth Olympic title. She was carrying the flag of her country with great pride. But this time, everything would not go as Valentina wanted. She would face the defeat she had not experienced in a long time in the semi-finals. To make matters worse, she was unable to stay motivated for the bronze medal due to her frustration. She was trailing 10-6 with one minute left.
“It was a very difficult moment for me. After losing the chance to win gold, it was very difficult to get back out there for bronze. I didn't care. I wanted it to end as soon as possible. Then I heard someone shout from the sidelines: 'On your shoulder, on your shoulder...'"
It was coach Guilio shouting from the sidelines, telling Valentina to attack her opponent's shoulder. Valentina did this too. After the first, second, and third, she had the chance to tie the game with five seconds left. The audience applauded this amazing comeback. They were cheering for Valentina. And Valentina scored another point and equalized. Later, she won the extended competition and won the bronze medal. Regardless of the color of the medal, it was always nice to win, even if you had been a champion many times before.
“At that moment I was convinced that Maestro Triccoli and my father's hands were guiding my hand. So they enabled me to perform a little miracle.”
Valentina Vezzali filled her career with medals and then continued her work for female athletes in the Italian Parliament. Probably her beloved Maestro Triccoli and her father follow her proudly.