Nedo Nadi
Italy
Fencing
Overall Ranks
#6 among Fencers
#6 among Italian Olympians
#5 among Male Fencers
#5 among Male Italian Olympians
#3 among Italian Fencers
#2 among Male Italian Fencers
Olympic Results
1912
Individual Foil - Gold
1920
Individual Foil - Gold
Team Foil - Gold
Team Epee - Gold
Individual Sabre - Gold
Team Sabre - Gold
Total
Events - 8
Gold - 6
Nedo Nadi was born on June 9, 1894 in Livorno, Italy, the son of Beppe Nadi, a famous Italian fencing master, who began training his two sons as fencers from the age of 7. His father trained him on the foil and the sabre, but refused to teach the epee, as he considered it "undisciplined," so Nedo and his brother Aldo trained together in secret on the epee.
He made his Olympic debut in Stockholm in 1912, just after his 18th birthday. His first event was the individual foil, which was made easier due to a French boycott over a rule disagreement. Nadi dominated the event, losing only 1 bout the entire way, during the quarterfinal round, and he finished it off with a perfect 7-0 romp in the finals to become the youngest fencing gold medalist in history, a distinction he still holds over 100 years later.
The sabre events were up next, but they didn't go quite as well. Italy lost in the semifinal pool of the team event, which left them tied for 5th place. In the individual event, the Hungarians had already begun their dominance 4 years earlier, and 1912 may have been their peak. Nadi lost only 3 bouts through the 3 rounds leading up to the final, in which he was the lone competitor not from Hungary in the field of 8. He fought well, winning 4 of 7 bouts, which was good enough for 5th place, but not enough for a medal.
Nadi served in the Italian army during World War I, then returned to fencing after the war concluded. Hungary was not allowed to compete in 1920 due to their role in the war, leaving some events more open than usual, so Nadi entered 5 events, competing with all 3 weapons in Antwerp.
His first event was the team foil. The Italians had 8 matches total, and won all 8 of them, with the only close match in the final coming against France, but they came out ahead 9-7 to win the gold medal. Next up was the individual foil, where he was the defending champion, and he crushed the competition, winning 22 out of 23 bouts to take his third career gold medal easily.
The next event was the team epee, the weapon that his father hated. Italy advanced to the final with just a single loss, against Portugal, but then swept the final pool, beating all 5 of their opponents to walk away with another gold medal. In the team sabre event, there were only 8 countries competing, so the event was a single round-robin to determine the winner. Italy won all 7 of their matches very easily, with the closest score of 12-4 against both Belgium and the Netherlands, giving Nadi a 4th gold in 1920.
In the individual sabre event, Nadi was once again dominant, losing only a single bout in the entire tournament and dominating the final pool without a loss, giving him another gold medal, his fifth in Antwerp and 6th overall. Notably, his younger brother, Aldo, won the silver medal, which went along with his 3 golds in the team events with his brother.
Nadi retired right after the 1920 Olympics, and became a fencing coach who travelled all over the world. He later coached the Italian fencing team at the 1936 Olympics, then passed away in 1940 at the age of 45. His 1920 Olympic performance alone would have been enough to make him one of the greatest Olympians of all time, but add in his earlier gold as the youngest fencer to win and you have an undoubtable great.
