Maria Valentina Vezzali (born February 14, 1974 in Iesi) is an Italian fencer

Fencing

Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

 who has won five Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 gold medal

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

s in foil competitions.

Career

Vezzali is the first fencer in Olympic history to win three Individual Foil gold medals at three consecutive Olympics – Sydney 2000

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

, Athens 2004

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 and Beijing 2008

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

. She also won twelve gold medals at the World Fencing Championships, six in individual competitions (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011) and another seven in team competitions (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2010), plus four silver medals (two individual, 1994 and 2006, and two with Italian team, in the same years) and two bronze medals (individual, 1995 and 1998).

In European championships, she won nine gold medals (individual: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010; team: 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010), three silver medals (individual: 2003, 2007; team: 2007), two bronze medals (individual: 1993; team: 1998).

Biography

In 2006 she published her autobiography, A volto scoperto ("With uncovered face"), written with Caterina Luchetti. She married Italian soccer player Domenico Giugliano and has a son, Pietro.

Palmarès

Event	Individual	Team	Total
Olympics	3	1	0	2	0	1	5	1	1
World Championships FIE World Championships in Fencing The World Championships in Fencing is an annual competition organized by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime or FIE, . The world championships are, after the Olympic Games, the most prominent international competition in the sport of fencing...	6	2	3	7	2	0	13	4	3
European Championships European Fencing Championships The European Fencing Championships is an annual competition organized by the Confédération européenne d'escrime.- Host cities :*1981 : Foggia *1982 : Mödling *1983 : Lisbon *1991 : Vienna *1992 : Lisbon *1993 : Linz *1994 : Krakow *1995 : Keszthely...	5	3	1	5	1	1	10	4	2
Total	14	6	4	14	3	2	28	9	6

See also

• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic medalists
• List of cultural icons of Italy

External links

Official website Personal data