Giorgio Santelli biography
Giorgio Santelli, (born 1897, Hungary—died 1985, Leonia, N.J., U.S.), Hungarian-born Italian fencing grasp, thought by many to be the best American fencing coach of the twentieth century.
As a small baby, Giorgio Santelli started taking fencing classes from his father, the nice Italian grasp Italo Santelli, who was one of many founders of the formidable Hungarian college of sabre fencing. By the time he was 25, Santelli had gained the Austrian foil and sabre championships and the Hungarian sabre championship.
In 1924 Santelli fought a duel in Italy in protection of his father’s honour. The captain of the Italian fencing staff, Adolfo Cotronei, had written a narrative in regards to the elder Santelli, suggesting that he had betrayed his personal nation by siding with a name favouring a Hungarian fencer over an Italian throughout a foil bout on the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. The implication was that the outdated fencing grasp did so as a result of he feared the Hungarian staff, which he had educated, could be crushed by the Italians. Santelli stood in for his father in a duel towards Cotronei with heavy cavalry sabres in an change that lasted for greater than two minutes earlier than Cotronei was wounded by a reduce to his head.
In 1928 Santelli moved to the United States to show on the New York Athletic Club. He rapidly established himself as a profitable instructor, producing many champions, together with Albert Axelrod, who gained third place in particular person foil on the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Santelli additionally coached 5 robust U.S. Olympic fencing groups: 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, and 1952.