article by Nicola Pucci
When on August 6, 2016, atArena Carioca 3 of Rio de Janeiro, the swordsmen take to the stage to open the Olympics programme, Rossella Fiamingo has her sights set on the exploit that would confirm her as the undisputed number 1 in the world of the specialty.
In the last three years, in fact, the 25-year-old from Catania has won practically everything, adding two world titles won in Kazan in 2014 against the German Britta Heidemann and in 2015 in Moscow against the Swede Emma Samuelsson, snatching the silver at the 2015 European Championships in Montreaux, beaten in the final by the Russian Violetta Kolobova, and in the team event taking the bronze with her teammates in each of the three events, as well as winning the 2015 Epee World Cup. Ergo, in the Carioca city she is among the favorites for the gold medalin the absence of the two main rivals, Heidemann and Samuelsson, finding themselves facing the defending champion, the Ukrainian Yana Shemyakinaalso bronze at the Kazan World Championships, the Chinese Sun Yujie, who climbed to the third step of the podium at the 2012 London Games, and the Tunisian Sarra Besbes and the Estonian Erika Kirpu, who like the other Chinese Xu Anqi have a recently won world bronze medal around his neck.
The Catanian comes into contention in the round of 32 with Canadian Leonora McKinnon, winning with an easy 15-8while the turn is fatal for Sun Yujie, beaten by the Korean Kang Young-mi, and the Estonian Julia Beljajeva, world champion of Budapest in 2013, ousted by the Hungarian Emese Szasz. Watch out for the Magyar, 34 year old with great experience, eternally placed in major eventsif it is true that in her career she has achieved, individually, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes at the World Championships and 2 bronzes at the European Championships, however winning the World Cup in 2014 and being well on her way to granting an encore in the current year.
In the round of 16 the Romanian Ana Maria Florentina Branza, silver in Beijing 2008, defeated by the Korean Choi In-jeong, while Fiamingo beat the Hong Kong athlete, Vivian Kong, 15-11, and then eliminated Choi herself in the quarter-finals with an equally clear 15-8.
In the semi-final the scoreboard presents the challenges between the Italian and the Chinese Sun Yiwen in the upper part, while in the lower part Szasz face each otherwho after Beljajeva easily won the bouts with Kang Young-mi, 15-11, and the Japanese Nozomi Nakano, 15-4, and the surprising French Lauren Rambiwho curiously won her only World Cup race in Rio de Janeiro in 2014, beating Szasz in the final. Fiamingo wins narrowly, 12-11, after regulation time ended in a draw, 11-11 and overcoming a 3-shot deficit with only 29″ left to go, placing the winning hit against the Chinese player after 15″ of the extra minute (the priority rule applies, identical to the golden goal in football)thus flying into the final where finds the Hungarian, who emerges victorious 10-6 from the match against the transalpine swordsmanconfirming its superiority.
The final is balanced, Fiamingo extends to 10-6 and things seem to be going well, but the expert Hungarian, born in 1982, recovers the gap and with 2’15” to go she grabs the tie. She proceeds jab by jab and finally the one that is worth the gold medal is a double shot at 14-12 which sets the result at the final 15-13 for Szasz.
Rossella Fiamingo fails in her bid for Olympic gold, but in that three-year period 2014/2016, she was truly the best swordsman of the lot.
2024-02-24 13:32:00
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