Luigi Cantone

Luigi "Gino" Cantone (born July 21, 1917 in Robbio ( PV ), Italy , † November 6, 1997 in Novara ) was an Italian fencer and Olympic champion.

life and career

Cantone learned fencing at the age of 15 from fencing master Francesco Visconti in Vercelli . Alfredo Pezzana came from Vercelli , who had become Olympic champion with the Italian epee team in 1936 and emulated the Cantone. Cantone's first international assignment was the 1939 World Student Championship in Vienna. After the Second World War, Cantone took second place behind Dario Mangiarotti in the Italian championship in 1946 . At the fencing world championships in 1947 Cantone won the bronze medal with the Italian epee team.

At the 1948 Olympic Games in London, the team decision took place on August 5th and 6th. In the round of the last four, Cantone was only used in the battle against the later fourth from Denmark, with 2 wins and 2 defeats he was not in convincing form with an overall result of 12: 4. Cantone had to watch as his teammates lost the decisive battle against France, the Italian team with Cantone received the silver medal. Nevertheless, he was available on call for the individual competition on August 9th because Edoardo Mangiarotti was injured in the hand. Edoardo Mangiarotti did compete in the singles, but his brother Dario had to pass due to a foot injury. With Edoardo Mangiarotti, Carlo Agostoni and Luigi Cantone, all three Italians reached the round of the last 10 fencers, in which each had to compete against each other for three hits. Cantone lost its first two battles against Agostoni and Mangiarotti and won all subsequent fights. With his win against the Swiss Oswald Zappelli , Cantone secured the gold medal ahead of Zappelli and Mangiarotti. The following year, Cantone won the team title at the World Fencing Championships in Cairo in 1949, together with the Mangiarotti brothers and Roberto Battaglia , Marco Antonio Mandruzzato and Antonio Spallino .

literature

• Volker Kluge : Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle II. London 1948 - Tokyo 1964. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-328-00740-7 .

Web links

• Gino Cantone in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• World championships in epee fencing