MANGIAROTTI, EDOARDO

born April 7, 1919, Renate, Italy 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 in foil and pe. Mangiarotti's father, a master fencer, began giving Edoardo and his brother Dario fencing lessons at the age of eight. Edoardo was naturally right-handed, but converted to the left hand under the urging of his father, who believed it was a competitive advantage. Mangiarotti was 17 years old when he competed at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, helping Italy to win the team pe gold medal. He won three more team Olympic golds (1952, 1956, and 1960) and a silver (1948) in the pe competition, as well as a team gold (1956) and three silvers (1948, 1952, and 1960) in the foil. An accomplished technical fencer, Mangiarotti also enjoyed individual success at the Olympics. At the 1952 Games in Helsinki he captured a gold medal in the pe competition and a silver in the foil. He also won individual bronze medals (1948, 1956) in the pe, and his 13 Olympic medals are the most ever collected by a fencer. Mangiarotti's brother Dario won a gold medal and two silver medals in Olympic competition.