Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #141 - Giulio Gaudini

Giulio Gaudini

Italy

Fencing

Overall Rankings

#9 among Fencers

#8 among Italian Olympians

#8 among Male Fencers

#4 among Italians Fencers

#3 among Male Italian Fencers

 

Olympic Results

1928

Individual Foil - Bronze

Team Foil - Gold

1932

Individual Foil - Bronze

Team Foil - Silver

Individual Sabre - Silver

Team Sabre - Silver

1936

Individual Foil - Gold

Team Foil - Gold

Team Sabre - Silver

Total

Events - 11

Gold - 3

Silver - 4

Bronze - 2

Giulio Gaudini was born on September 28, 1904 in Rome, Italy. He began fencing at a young age, and immediately showed promise, so much so that he made Italy's very competitive Olympic fencing team when he was just 19 years old.

In his first Olympics, he was only entered in the team foil event. The team made it through pool play and the quarterfinals with no issue, reaching the final group of 4, but in their first match, against France, they disagreed with the final point that was awarded to the French and left the competition in protest, which gave the team a 4th place finish by default.

By 1928, he was one of the stars of the Italian team, and there would be no repeat of their 1924 result, as they won every match en route to a dominant gold medal. He then competed in the individual foil event for the first time, and advanced easily into the final group of 12, where he finished with a 9-2 record, which put him in a 3-way tie for first. The tie was broken by scoring margin, which earned Gaudini the bronze medal.

In 1932, he returned to compete in the foil events, but added the sabre events as well. The Italian team was favored to repeat their title in the team foil event, but after a 3-way tie in the final pool, Italy was awarded the silver medal based on having fewer overall touches than France. In the individual foil, he repeated his bronze medal performance from 4 years earlier.

Hungary was the defending champion in the team sabre and was the heavy favorite, and they did not disappoint, wiping out every opponent in the tournament. Gaudini and the Italians won silver, easily defeating Poland and the USA in the final pool, but falling 9-2 against Hungary. Hungary was expected to take all 3 individual sabre medals, but Gaudini surprised everyone by taking the silver after losing only 2 matches in the final pool, leaving him with 3 silvers and a bronze in 1932.

Gaudini qualified for the same 4 events in 1936, and this time Italy would return to form, going undefeated through the tournament and beating France 9-4 in the decisive match to take back the gold medal. In the individual foil, Gaudini came in first place in his pool in every round of the tournament, and won all 7 matches in the final pool to finally earn his first individual gold medal.

The team sabre event was a repeat of the 1932 event, except that Italy made their final match with Hungary a bit closer this time, losing 9-6 to earn a repeat silver. In the individual sabre, Gaudini reached the final pool, just as he always had, but finished 3-5 among that group and ended up in 6th place, the worst finish of his Olympic career.

The next two Olympic games were not held due to World War II, and before he could compete again, Gaudini passed away from cancer on January 6, 1948 in his hometown of Rome. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest fencers of his time, reaching the final pool in all 11 events in which he competed, and earning a total of 9 medals, 3 of which were gold, capped off with his first and only individual gold in 1936.