ACOG - News - IBM

(22 July 1996; Day 3)

Vezzali Finds Final Fencing Step too Tough to Take

Italian fencer Valentina VEZZALI remembers setting in her home in Jesi, Italy on a warm summer day and watching Giovanna TRILLINI earn foil gold medals in both the individual and team events at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. That was four years ago.

In the intervening time span, the two have trained together, worked together, traveled together and competed together. They also rose to the top of the World Cup circuit together

"I think it has been a very positive factor training together," VEZZALI said. "By improving myself, she improves also by helping me improve. This is a very positive factor for each of us."

Nearly identical in stature and style, they faced each other in numerous international competitions as well as in practice. They also dreamed together. They dreamed of facing one another at the Olympic Games with a gold medal to hang about the neck of the victor.

"It would have been the best possible thing, facing off for first and second at the Olympic Games," VEZZALI said.

For much of the day Monday, indeed much of 1996, it appeared that VEZZALI's dream would become reality. After all, TRILLINI is ranked number one in the world and was attempting to become the first woman to successfully defend her title in the foil since Hungary's Iiona ELEK did so in 1948. For her part, VEZZALI had been tearing up the World Cup circuit, winning everything that TRILLINI didn't, and VEZZALI actually surpassed TRILLINI to earn the title of 1996 World Cup Champion.

But fate and the Games can make for strange outcomes. First, TRILLINI and then VEZZALI were beaten by Romania's Laura BADEA. VEZZALI settled for silver; TRILLINI for bronze. Both were disappointed.

"I was slightly disappointed," VEZZALI said. "I think it is understandable if someone is not that happy about (a silver or bronze) when one expected more. I felt that something was missing, especially since I had trained very hard. We started our Olympic preparation in June with a lot of fencing, both in Italy as well as here in the States."

VEZZALI, who won her semifinal bout with France's Laurence MODAINE-CESSAC first, could only sit and watch and her older teammate squandered leads of 8-4, 10-5 and 14-13 before falling 15-14 in sudden death to BADEA in the semifinals. While one dream was gone, another was very much alive. She could still stand where TRILLINI had stood that summer day four years ago, atop the medal podium, gold draping from her neck.

After watching TRILLINI win the bronze medal bout, the stage belonged to the 22-year-old VEZZALI. But BADEA controlled the final, never allowing VEZZALI to get her rhythm and keeping the younger Italian guessing.

The result was a 15-10 defeat and perhaps another in a series of lessons learned.

"At first I wasn't really happy about my silver medal," VEZZALI said.

"But that has changed after the medal ceremony."

Although not golden, VEZZALI and TRILLINI embraced each other on the

victory podium and watched as their flags were raised but listened to the anthem of another. The dream would have to wait for another day, another year. But the memories of working, training and competing in the Olympic Games together would last a lifetime, nonetheless.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Mark Vinson.


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More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.