Nedo Nadi
Encyclopedia
Nedo Nadi was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
fencer
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
, widely regarded as one of, if not, the best ever. He is the only fencer to win a gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
in each of the three weapons
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
at a single Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
and won the most gold medals ever at a single Games - five. Until Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics....
won seven swimming championships at the 1972 Summer Olympics
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
, this was also the record number of gold medals won at a single Games by any competitor. Nadi won six Olympic gold medals in total.
Early life
Nedo Nadi was born in LivornoLivorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the elder son of famous Italian fencing master, Giuseppe (Beppe) Nadi. He had a younger brother, Aldo
Aldo Nadi
Aldo Nadi is considered among the greatest fencers of all time.Aldo was born into a fencing family in Livorno, Italy, and both Aldo and his brother Nedo Nadi were fencers from a very young age...
who was an olympic gold medallist in his own right. Nedo had his first fencing lesson with a foil at the age of seven in his father’s gymnasium at Livorno. His father taught him foil and sabre but believed the épée to be an "undisciplined" weapon and refused to teach it. The brothers therefore used to go and practice by themselves and were essentially self taught. At the age of fourteen Nedo won a solid silver trophy for his three weapon work during the Jubilee celebration of Emperor Franz Joseph at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
1912 Olympic Games
Competing for his country at 1912 Stockholm Olympics1912 Summer Olympics
The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...
, Nadi became the youngest fencer to win a foil gold medal. Aged 18 years and 29 days, he beat teammate Pietro Speciale and Richard Verderber of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
for the individual gold with seven straight victories in the final pool.
World War I
Nadi served in the Italian ArmyItalian Army
The Italian Army is the ground defence force of the Italian Armed Forces. It is all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel, numbering 108,355 in 2010. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank, and among its aircraft...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and was decorated
Military decoration
A military decoration is a decoration given to military personnel or units for heroism in battle or distinguished service. They are designed to be worn on military uniform....
for bravery.
1920 Olympic Games
Nadi resumed his competitive career after World War I was over. Defeated central European countriesCentral Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
did not attend the Antwerp games
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....
. This meant that Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, one of the strongest fencing nations, would be absent. Nadi therefore decided to expand his chances for gold and entered all three fencing disciplines.
Nedo Nadi’s 1920 Olympic performances were acclaimed as near to perfection as a fencer could execute. Nadi won the individual foil gold medal with a record 10 wins in the final pool. Frenchman, Roger Ducret, who won bronze went on to win the individual gold in 1924, after Nadi had retired from the Olympic arena.
Nadi’s entry in the épée event annoyed his father, who regarded the épée as "a crude and undisciplined weapon”. Unlike the foil, where a fencer could only score off a hit which landed on the trunk of the opponent’s body, or the sabre where the upper torso and face mask count as scoring hits, in épée any part of the body is a legitimate hit. Nevertheless, Nedo Nadi led the Italian épée team, which included his brother Aldo, to the Olympic team gold medal.
Nedo Nadi's perfect balance, timing and rapid reflexes were an advantage in any style of fencing, so without much difficulty he won the individual sabre gold medal by 11 victories to 9. His brother Aldo won the silver medal. In the team sabre event, the Italian team supported their star fencer and cruised to an easy victory.
Nadi added three team victories to his tally of two individual golds and his younger brother Aldo won three team gold and one silver to make the family total a record for any sport in one Olympic Games.
Later life
Aldo and Nedo only fenced each other once in public and that match was drawn. Aldo moved to Hollywood where he worked in the film industry.After his Antwerp Olympic victories Nadi turned professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
and took up coaching at the Buenos Aires Jockey Club. He returned to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
some years later and was reinstated as an amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
. From 1935 to his death in January 1940 he served as president of the Italian Fencing Federation.