Paris (Reuters)
World number one Italy won the gold medal in the women’s epee final, beating France 30-29 in a thrilling match that was decided by a surprise, at the Paris Olympic Games.
Italy’s Alberta Santuccio let out a deafening scream when she touched her opponent’s arm to secure the gold medal, while France’s Oriane Malou-Breton, roared on by her home crowd, failed to overturn Italy’s one-point lead heading into the final round.
Poland won the bronze medal, beating China 32-31.
“It was not easy to play on their home ground, we trained to be ready to face a crowd cheering the opposition, the girls were good at overcoming that,” Italy coach Dario Chiado told reporters.
After Malo-Breton’s silver in the individual competition, the French fencers made their way to the final by defeating world number two South Korea 37-31 in the quarter-finals, then overcoming third-placed Poland in the semi-finals.
However, Italy were ahead of the curve as they came from 19-15 down in a sweltering Grand Palais to win a thrilling match that had the fans in the stands on edge.
“I’m so happy for the girls who deserved it, it’s been a great three years, they’ve been amazing,” Chiado said.
“I am sad and happy at the same time,” France coach Herve Fager told reporters.
“I don’t blame the athletes, they gave everything, and on top of that, we had two very strong teams before, we beat the world’s number two team, then we lost to the number one team, Italy,” he added.
Defending champions Estonia failed to qualify for the Olympics.
While France, ranked ninth in the world, may rue missing out on the title, they can celebrate their first medal in the women’s team sabre since Laura Flessel, France’s first lady of fencing, led the team to victory at the 1996 Atlanta Games, beating Italy in the final.
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