Italy’s fourth gold medal at the London Olympics comes from the team foil event of Ilaria Salvatori, a Staff Sergeant in the Italian Air Force stationed at the A.M. Sports Center in Vigna di Valle; she started as reserve of the multi-medalist Italian team and took to the mat in the seventh round of the final, against the very strong Shanaeva.
Despite the partial negative result (9 shots to 5 in favor of the Russian), Salvadori managed to complete the five shots needed to pave the way for the final success.
Before beating the Russians in the final with 14 shots ahead, the Italian team had “walked” with Great Britain in the quarterfinals (42-14) and defeated the French in the semifinals with a crushing 45-22 victory.
After Michele Frangilli, Marco Galiazzo, Mauro Nespoli and Diego Occhiuzzi, Ilaria Salvadori is, so far, the fifth athlete from the Aeronautica Militare to win a medal at the London Olympics.
