Alberta Santuccio got the winning touch for Italy in overtime against France’s Auriane Mallo-Breton in epee fencing to complete a hard-fought 30-29 win for gold in the Paris Olympics 2024.
Alberta Santuccio is an Italian Fencer and 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist. She was born on 22nd October 1994, in Catania, Italy. She began fencing at the age of seven.
While competing with the CS Acireale, she won a gold medal in the individual event at the European Cadet Championship and in the international under-17 circuits. As such, she was chosen to be the flag bearer in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. She won gold in the mixed team tournament and silver in the girls’ individual Épée during the games. Santuccio also won two bronze medals at the 2014 and 2018 Fencing World Cup. In 2015, Santuccio returned from ninth place to beat Russia 40–36 in the 2015 European Games for a bronze medal.
Santuccio was selected to represent Team Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics where she helped them win a bronze medal in the Team épée.
Namita Nayyar:
You were born in Catania, Italy. You began fencing at the age of seven after witnessing her brother Giorgio play the sport. This later propelled your career to the height where you represented Team Italy at the 2020 Summer Olympics and helped them win a bronze medal in the Team épée fencing. Tell us more about your professional journey of exceptional hard work, tenacity, and endurance.
Alberta Santuccio:
The life of us sportsmen is not always as full of enthusiasm as one might think from the outside. In our journey there are more climbs we face than descents. The first major decision I made in my career was when in 2016 I decided to leave my gym, my family and my homeland to train in another city, I moved to Milan where I spent two years.
Later I realized that things were not going as I had planned and hoped and I again found myself having to make another decision, which was to move to Rome. This, however, meant yet another new gym, a new teacher, a new life, but inside me I knew it would be the best choice and in fact it turned out to be so: I immediately had a great feeling with Daniele (my teacher) with whom I did an exceptional job. With him I felt like I was back home a bit because I experienced that paternal sense of protection but at the same time he knew how to spur me on and shake me when I needed it. So we can say that my path was not always linear, but thanks to my character and perseverance I managed to obtain the stability I needed.
Namita Nayyar:
You have selected a sport which apart from individual sport is also a team sport and requires a lot of cohesiveness and family feeling between the players of the side to finally succeed, how do you achieve that?
Alberta Santuccio:
When you start fencing you mainly think that this is an individual sport, only later do you discover the world of the team. A world made first of all of mutual trust, hard teamwork on and off the piste. We as a team are very close, but it took us a while to reach these levels. We know that where one does not arrive, the other will surely arrive: that is our strength.
Namita Nayyar:
What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine you would like to share?
Alberta Santuccio:
My week is made up of a lot of training, but also rest because in sport recovery is not to be underestimated. I train three times in the morning where I do athletic preparation and every afternoon I take care of the technical part, then bouts with opponents and lessons with the master.
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