With this message the best fencer of all time, Italian foilist Valentina Vezzali, at the age of 42 has announced her retirement from the competitions. Six-time Olympic Champion Valentina has made history with her 56 medals (35 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze) won at Olympic Games (3 consecutive individual golds! World Championships (6 individual golds) and European Championships. She had over 60 World Cup events won and 11 overall world cups.
What a legend! I’ve had the pleasure to witness Valentina’s unswerving dedication to fencing at training/comps for 8 years (as an Italian national team coach, I was coaching her main opponent at the time), and I've never seen anyone more committed and passionate about training and victory. It was everything for her. She is simply an excellent role model for all sportsmen.
“Fencing has been my life," said Valentina, after her retirement announcement this month. “My foil has been with me since I was more than six years old, and together we've shared emotions, disappointments, medals, misfortunes, and tears of both joy and anger. “In life after every end there is always a new beginning”. “Today, I don't see a sunset, but rather a sunrise of new challenges to be faced...
and won.