Christian d'Oriola biography
Christian d’Oriola, (born Oct. 3, 1928, Perpignan, France—died Oct. 29, 2007, Nîmes), French foil fencer who between 1947 and 1956 gained 4 world titles and 6 Olympic medals, cementing his stature as one of many nice fencers within the historical past of the game.
D’Oriola was born to a sporting household—a cousin gained two Olympic gold medals in equestrian leaping—and started fencing when he was eight years outdated. In 1947 he gained the world foil championship in Lisbon in his debut in worldwide competitors. He gained three extra world foil titles in 1949, 1953, and 1954. D’Oriola loved related success within the Olympics, taking the silver medal within the particular person foil competitors on the 1948 Games in London and the gold in that very same occasion on the 1952 Games in Helsinki, Fin., and the 1956 Games in Melbourne, Australia. A superb technician with distinctive timing and consciousness, d’Oriola joined Nedo Nadi as the one two-time gold medalists within the particular person foil occasion. In the group foil competitors d’Oriola led France to the gold medal in 1948 and 1952. At the Helsinki Games, he gained all 10 matches within the group occasion, and in 1956 he beat all 4 members of the Italian squad, though France completed with the silver medal. D’Oriola’s final Olympic look was the 1960 Games in Rome, the place he did not earn a medal. He was named “Fencer of the 20th Century” by the International Fencing Federation in 2001.