Gianluigi Saccaro

Gianluigi Saccaro was the youngest member of the legendary Italian épée team that won Olympic gold at the 1960 Roma Games. Saccaro had to fight his final bouts with his right eye patched due to a blow he had received previously. Saccaro also won two other Olympic medals in his career, team silver at Tokyo in 1964 and bronze individually at Mexico City in 1968.

An épée specialist, Saccaro first made a name for himself at age 18 at Luxembourg in 1956 when he was fifth individually at the World Youth Championships. At that tournament he was runner-up in 1957 and 1959 and third in 1958. He also competed at three World Cups (fourth in 1968) and eight World Championships from 1957 to 1969, with two team event gold medals in the two-year period 1957-58.

Among his many victories, Saccaro had two wins at the Spreafico Trophy in Milano (1959-61), two medals at the Torneo dei Trenta (1961-62), and one gold in 1959 and three bronze medals at the Summer Universiade. Domestically, he won three individual Italian titles (1961, 1968, and 1972, the last at the age of 34).

Saccaro, a lawyer by profession, was awarded the CONI Gold Medal for sporting merit in 2015, the highest Italian sporting honor.