Top-ranked Italy silenced a partisan crowd as they claimed the women’s epee gold medal by beating arch rivals France 30-29 in a high-octane, sudden-death contest at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
Italy’s Alberta Santuccio let out a deafening scream as she touched her opponent’s arm to guarantee the gold medal as France’s Auriane Mallo-Breton, who received raucous backing from the home fans, failed to overturn Italy’s one-point lead going into the final leg.
Poland took the bronze medal by beating China 32-31.
“It was not easy to play in their home. We worked in practice to be ready to have the fans against us. The girls were good at getting past that,” Italy coach Dario Chiado told reporters.
On the back of Mallo-Breton’s silver in the individual event, the French fencers bulldozed their way into the final by crushing world number two South Korea 37-31 in the quarter-finals and beating third-ranked Poland in the last four.
Italy, however, were a step up in quality, fighting back from 19-15 down to win a thrilling bout that had supporters on the edge of their seats.
“I am so happy for the girls who deserved it. It’s been a great three years. They have been great,” Chiado said.
France coach Herve Faget told reporters he was “sad and happy at the same time”.
“I don’t blame my athletes, they gave it their all,” Faget said.
“After all, we had two very strong teams beforehand, we beat the number two team in the world, after the reigning world champions we won again, and then we lost to the number one team, Italy.”
Giulia Rizzi reduced the home team’s advantage with a dominant display against Coraline Vitalis before French substitute Alexandra Louis-Marie lost 4-2 to Mara Navarria as Italy finally edged ahead.
“Substitutions have to be managed very carefully. We could only make one. Mara could have been an added value and she was. All of them did their job. We won as a team,” Chiado said.
While France, ranked ninth in the world, may regret missing out on the title, they can celebrate earning their first medal in the women’s epee team event since 2004 when they won bronze at the Athens Games.
