PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: fencing

Domenico Angelo was an Italian fencing master. Angelo was the first to emphasize fencing as a means of developing health, poise, and grace. As a result of his insight and influence, fencing changed from...

Miyamoto Musashi was a famous Japanese soldier-artist of the early Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867). Musashi began his career as a fighter early in life when, at age 13, he killed a man in single combat....

Christian d’Oriola was a French foil fencer who won four world titles and six Olympic medals between 1947 and 1956, cementing his stature as one of the great fencers in the history of the sport. D’Oriola...

Born in Livorno, Italy, in 1894, the fencer Nedo Nadi enjoyed an unusual advantage early on. His father, Giuseppe Nadi, was one of Italy’s greatest swordsmen, and from childhood Nedo and his brother Aldo...

Born in 1876, fencer Albert Ayat was among France’s greatest masters of the sword by the time of the 1900 Paris Games. Only 24 years old, he had served as a sword-fighting instructor at Saint-Cyr, France’s...

Giorgio Santelli was a Hungarian-born Italian fencing master, thought by many to be the greatest American fencing coach of the 20th century. As a small child, Giorgio Santelli began taking fencing lessons...

Aladár Gerevich was a Hungarian fencer who played a leading role in the Hungarian team’s 36-year dominance of the Olympic sabre competition. Gerevich won seven gold medals in fencing, and he was the first...

Luigi Barbasetti was an Italian fencing master, much respected in both Italy and Hungary. A student of the great Italian sabre teacher Giuseppe Radaelli, Barbasetti in many ways outstripped his master....

Peter Westbrook was an American fencer who, at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, won a bronze medal, becoming the first African American to win an Olympic medal in the sport. He competed for the U.S. fencing...

Edoardo Mangiarotti was an Italian fencer who was one of the most successful performers in the history of the sport. Over a 40-year career, Mangiarotti won 13 Olympic medals and 13 team world championships...

William Gaugler was an American fencing master. He was one of the most prominent and respected students of the great Italian fencer Aldo Nadi. In 1979, Gaugler established a fencing master’s training program...

Lucien Gaudin was a French fencer. One of the great classical fencers of the 20th century, Gaudin was once described as “poetry in motion” for his seemingly effortless control of his blade through “finger...

Ilona Elek was a Hungarian fencer who was the first woman to win two Olympic gold medals in the individual foil competition. In addition to her success in the Olympics, Elek was the world champion in women’s...

Alfred Hutton was an English fencing master. He organized numerous fencing exhibitions, displays, and lectures, which helped to revitalize interest in the sport in England at the end of the 19th century....