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Second to none Italy's Vezzali takes gold in individual foilLatest: Sunday October 01, 2000 04:09 AM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Italy's Valentina Vezzali won the gold medal in the women's individual foil Thursday by beating Kita Koenig of Germany. "I had a difficult competition today, but I would not have changed anything," said Vezzali, who won the silver medal in Atlanta four years ago. Italy's Giovanna Trillini beat Laura Gabriela Carlescu Badea of Romania 15-9 to win the bronze medal. Mihai Claudiu Covaliu of Romania won the men's sabre, defeating Mathieu Gourdain of France 15-12. Wiradech Kothny of Germany took the bronze by beating Domonkos Ferjancsik of Hungary 15-11.
Koenig, who lost the final match 15-5, was surprised that she even got that far. "I didn't expect to win a medal at all," the silver medalist said. Vezzali won three World Cup titles this year leading up to the Sydney Games. "She proved she is worthy of her world No. 1 ranking," Koenig said. It was the second fencing gold in these games for Italy, which also won the men's team epee. The individual foil was probably the last in the career of Chinese-born Canadian Julie Luan. Luan, the gold medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, is expected to retire following her 15-8 preliminary loss to Seo Mi-Jung of South Korea. The Canadian team coach called it "a miracle" that she even made it to Sydney. "Just the fact that she is here is incredible considering she is 42, has three kids and lives in a remote part of Canada -- five hours from the nearest training camp," Guittet said. "I think this is definitely the end of her career now, but it's up to her to announce her retirement." The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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