Guido Malacarne

Guido Malacarne was a federal advisor and an Italian fencer who contributed to the development of international refereeing in fencing. In addition to many international tournaments, Malacarne was present at three Olympic Games from 1968 to 1976. It was in Montréal that his name became famous beyond the world of fencing when, on the morning of 19 July at the Stade d’Hiver de l’Université, he found himself judging the épée competitions of the modern pentathlon event. During the match between the Soviet Union and Great Britain, Boris Onishchenko won the first bout against the Brit Adrian Parker, but the British team did not believe that their fencer had been touched and the head of their delegation alerted Malacarne to possible irregularities. The second bout, which this time took place under the watchful eyes of Malacarne himself, involved Jeremy Fox and Onishchenko, with the Soviet’s weapon again seeming to register a touch without the weapon’s point making contact with the British fencer.

Malacarne agreed that this touch looked suspicious and ordered that the weapon be confiscated and given to the technicians for examination. The technicians found the weapon’s wiring had been changed to allow it to register a touch by pressing two wires together. This led to Onishchenko’s disqualification, and Malacarne then helped develop stricter guidelines for weapon controls.

Within the FIE, Malacarne was a member of the referees committee from 1985-92 and was secretary-treasurer from 1981-84. He was nominated as an Honorary Member of the FIE in 1984 and received the silver star awarded by the Italian Fencing Federation and the Italian Olympic Committee.