Giovanna Trillini is a seven-time Olympic medal winner, with four gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals, tied with Hungary's Ildiko Ujlaki Rejto for most total medals by a female fencer. Trillini has won a medal in every Olympic foil competition held since 1992. Her one individual gold, at the Barcelona Games, came with a tinge of controversy. In a one-touch sudden death of the final, the Italian was deemed the victor for getting a touch in against China's Wang Huifeng, when the reverse appeared correct. Several rules changes have resulted in the years following, including video review.
Golden girl Gold medals in the individual and team foil competitions in Beijing would give Trillini six in her illustrious Olympic career. She would tie fencing greats Edoardo Mangiarotti and Nedo Nadi atop the Italy's list of most accomplished Olympic champions. Foil training partner and teammate Valentina Vezzali would also match the record with gold medals in each event.
Foil capital of Italy Trillini and Vezzali both hail from Jesi, a town of 40,000 people 125 miles north of Rome. Jesi has a rich fencing tradition, having sent Olympic fencers to every Games since 1976. Besides current fencers Trillini and Vezzali, the town produced Stefano Cerloni, who earned individual foil medals in 1984 (gold) and 1988 (bronze) and a team gold medal in 1988.
Daughter Claudia Just two months after Vezzali gave birth to her son, Pietro, Trillini gave birth to a girl, Claudia, in September 2005. She made a quick return to the piste in order to prepare for one final 'go' at the Olympic Games.
Velentina Vezzali
Valentina Vezzali is a five-time Olympic medal winner. Since earning a silver medal in the individual foil at the Atlanta Games in 1996, she has won two gold medals in the team foil event (1996, 2000) and two more gold medals in the individual foil event (2000, 2004). With her win in Athens, Vezzali became the first repeat Olympic champion in women’s foil since Ilona Elek of Hungary in 1936 and 1948. She says that she keeps her Olympic medals in a box somewhere in her house, and that she has so many medals, she can’t keep track of them all.
On the verge of history Gold medals in the individual and team foil competitions in Beijing would give Vezzali six in her illustrious Olympic career. She would tie fencing greats Edoardo Mangiarotti and Nedo Nadi atop the Italy's list of most accomplished Olympians. Foil training partner and teammate Giovanna Trillini would also match the record with gold medals in each event.
Foil capital of Italy Vezzali and Trillini both hail from Jesi, a town of 40,000 people 125 miles north of Rome. Jesi has a rich fencing tradition, having sent Olympic fencers to every Games since 1976. Besides current fencers Vezzali and Trillini, the town produced Stefano Cerloni, who earned individual foil medals in 1984 (gold) and 1988 (bronze) and a team gold medal in 1988.
Addition to the world Vezzali married Italian soccer player Domenico Giuliano in 2002, and the two gave birth to their first child, son Pietro, in June, 2005. Following a four-month maternity leave, she returned to the piste at the 2006 World Championships. Her training lead-up was made possible by her mother, who helped take care of Pietro.
Fencing Idols Vezzali looks at three-time Olympic medal-winning foil fencer Anja Fichtel of Germany as one of her main fencing role models. She also reveres Russian foil fencer Alexandr Romankov, who won ten world championships and five Olympic medals during a career that spanned most of the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Marguerita Granbassi
Gold medal in Torino After finishing 10th in Athens, Margherita Granbassi reached great heights by winning the individual foil competition at the 2006 World Championships in Turin. She followed that achievement with a solid 2007, consistently finishing in the top-three at World Cup and Grand Prix events. She was unable to defend her world title, however, losing to countrywoman Valentina Vezzali, 11-8, in the final.
Bull on the piste In contrast to fellow Italian foil fencers Vezzali and Giovanna Trillini, Granbassi’s demeanor is often characterized as calm. She has a nervous streak, as well; her coach occasionally calls her a bull, for the way she “makes attacks without thinking.” Beauty off the piste Granbassi appeared in the fashion magazine "Paris Match" in an article titled "The Goddesses of Olympus", dedicated to the eleven most beautiful female athletes who participated in the Athens Olympics. She was also given the same honor in the American, British, Greek, and Australian editions of another fashion magazine, "Marie Claire". Granbassi appeared with Amy Acuff (American high jumper), Ana Paula Connelly (Brazilian beach volleyball player), and Irina Tchachina (Russian rhythmic gymnast) representing the best "bodies" competing in Athens 2004.
Other interests Off the piste, Granbassi also enjoys playing tennis, riding horses and swimming in the Sea of Trieste. She also favors 20th century Italian painters Felice Casorati, Giorgio de Chirico and Mario Sironi.
Foil in the family All four siblings in the Granbassi household, Margherita, sister Giovanna, and brothers Francisco and Manlio fenced at some time during their youth. Francisco has remained in the sport, serving as an international referee.
Sada Jacobson
Sada Jacobson's first individual senior World Cup title, in June 2003, was special in many ways. For one, it was accomplished in Vanderbilt Hall in New York City's Grand Central Station. For another, the win propelled her to the world #1 ranking, a first for a female U.S. fencer. (Only U.S. saber fencer Keeth Smart had earned that distinction previously.) She then backed up her claim to the top by winning the next World Cup event in Cuba. Content with bronze Following her pre-Athens success, Jacobson was given the top seed in the Olympic women's sabre competition. Jacobson defeated her first two opponents before falling to Tan Xue of China in the second of two semifinals. She rebounded to win the bronze medal match.
Strong fence erected at home The Jacobson home is full of accomplished fencers. Sada has been joined by sister Emily, two years her junior, at Olympic Games and World Championships competitions since 2001. Youngest sister, Jackie, is also a budding fencing star. The girls' parents, David, who was a member of the U.S. sabre national team in the mid-1970's, and Tina still provide their daughters with competent training partners when they return home.
‘My name is Inigo Montoya...' Jacobson says that Princess Bride is her favorite movie because lead actor Mandy Patinkin, who played the part of Spanish ‘wizard' fencer Inigo Montoya, "actually took fencing lessons for several weeks" before filming the famous climactic scene.
Ordinary Georgia girl Jacobson hails from Dunwoody, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta and the residence of American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, and Bill Payne, the top administrator for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Being a Georgia girl, Jacobson likes to listen to country music, even while abroad. She ventured north for college, however, graduating from Yale University in 2005, with a degree in history.
Mariel Zagunis
Mariel Zagunis' remarkable 2004 Olympic experience almost never happened. At the Olympic qualifying cutoff point, only Emily and Sada Jacobson had secured berths for the U.S. team. But when Nigeria decided not to send a fencer to Athens, the open spot in the field was filled by Zagunis, the world's highest-ranked fencer who had not already qualified. Then the 19-year-old did the unexpected, becoming the first American to win an Olympic fencing gold in 100 years. In the final, Zagunis defeated former world champion Tan Xue of China, 15-9. Upon winning the last point, Zagunis was mobbed by teammates who rushed the stage to celebrate, tossing the champion up and down as she held an American flag, creating one of the more memorable images of the Athens Games. Pluck of the Irish Perhaps the Olympic gold medal shouldn't have been much of a surprise considering Zagunis' history of success. From 2002-'04, she won three consecutive Junior World Cup titles. And the victories have continued since Athens. She enrolled at Notre Dame in 2005 and went 29-1 her freshman season, placing second at the NCAA Tournament. Zagunis won the NCAA title the next season, adding to a 2006 season that ended up being one of the finest in U.S. women's fencing history. After finishing her first semester at Notre Dame in the fall of 2006, she left school to begin training full-time for Beijing. She is on track to return after the Games, and is deciding between majors in cultural anthropology and physical therapy & sports medicine.
Zagunis went on to win the women's sabre World Cup title, becoming only the second U.S. fencer to do so (joining Sada Jacobson, also in women's sabre). Zagunis received her championship trophy at the 2006 World Championships, where she won the silver.
Saying ‘No' to row Zagunis is the daughter of Olympians as well. Her parents, Robert (11th place, Fours with coxswain) and Cathy Zagunis (nee Menges, 6th place, Fours with coxswain), were members of the U.S. rowing team at the 1976 Olympic Summer Games in Montreal. Mariel chose a different path, as did brothers Marten and Merrick. Mariel began fencing at age 10 with the foil, because Marten was a nationally-ranked foil fencer.
Valentina Vezzali is a five-time Olympic medal winner. Since earning a silver medal in the individual foil at the Atlanta Games in 1996, she has won two gold medals in the team foil event (1996, 2000) and two more gold medals in the individual foil event (2000, 2004). With her win in Athens, Vezzali became the first repeat Olympic champion in women’s foil since Ilona Elek of Hungary in 1936 and 1948. She says that she keeps her Olympic medals in a box somewhere in her house, and that she has so many medals, she can’t keep track of them all.
Gold medal in Torino
Sada Jacobson's first individual senior World Cup title, in June 2003, was special in many ways. For one, it was accomplished in Vanderbilt Hall in New York City's Grand Central Station. For another, the win propelled her to the world #1 ranking, a first for a female U.S. fencer. (Only U.S. saber fencer Keeth Smart had earned that distinction previously.) She then backed up her claim to the top by winning the next World Cup event in Cuba. Content with bronze
Mariel Zagunis' remarkable 2004 Olympic experience almost never happened. At the Olympic qualifying cutoff point, only Emily and Sada Jacobson had secured berths for the U.S. team. But when Nigeria decided not to send a fencer to Athens, the open spot in the field was filled by Zagunis, the world's highest-ranked fencer who had not already qualified. Then the 19-year-old did the unexpected, becoming the first American to win an Olympic fencing gold in 100 years. In the final, Zagunis defeated former world champion Tan Xue of China, 15-9. Upon winning the last point, Zagunis was mobbed by teammates who rushed the stage to celebrate, tossing the champion up and down as she held an American flag, creating one of the more memorable images of the Athens Games. Pluck of the Irish
