Valentina Vezzali


Valentina Vezzali is an Italian fencer and politician. As fencer she has won six Olympic gold medals in foil competitions.
Together with the German shooter Ralf Schumann, the Slovak slalom canoeist Michal Martikán and the Japanese female judoka Ryoko Tani, Vezzali is one of only four athletes in the history of the Summer Olympic Games to have won five medals in the same individual event. From 1996 to 2010 she also won 11 Fencing World Cups.
In 2013, she became a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies as part of the Scelta Civica party.

Biography

Vezzali is the first fencer in Olympic history to win three Individual Foil gold medals at three consecutive Olympics – Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. She also won fourteen gold medals at the World Fencing Championships, six in individual competitions and another eight in team competitions, plus four silver medals and three bronze medals.
In European championships, she won nine gold medals, three silver medals, two bronze medals.
She published two autobiographies: A viso scoperto, written with Caterina Luchetti in 2006, and Io, Valentina Vezzali, written with Betta Carbone in 2012. She married Italian soccer player Domenico Giugliano and has two sons: Pietro, born on 9 June 2005, and Andrea, born on 16 May 2013.
On 25 February 2013 she became a member of the Italian Parliament as part of the Scelta Civica party led by Mario Monti.

Prize List

;Fencing World Cup

Olympic Games

World Championships

Honours and awards