Italy climbs medal table after early gold rush

Daniele Garozzo won gold in the men's fencing

ROME – The Italian team at Rio 2016 is currently sitting fourth in the medal table, after taking two golds and a total of seven medals in the opening two days of the Olympic Games. The country’s athletes have already claimed gold in both fencing and judo events. 

 Daniele Garozzo produced an impressive performance in the final of the men’s fencing to win gold earlier on Sunday. The Italian defeated the world number one Alex Massialas by a margin of 15-11. His opponent had earlier defeated the plucky Briton, Richard Kruse, in the semi-final of the men’s foil competition. Compared to the American Massialas, who has enjoyed a stellar few months on the international fencing circuit, Garozzo was ranked at a lowly 11th in the world upon entering the Olympics, making his victory somewhat of a surprise and a bonus for the Italian team. 

 Elsewhere in Rio, the Italian judo team has enjoyed incredible success on the second day of competition. Judo may not be the first sport that comes to mind when picturing Italian athletes, but Fabio Basile defeated An Baul within minutes of their 66kg final to claim Italy’s first gold of 2016. Not to be outdone, Odette Giuffrida also had the chance to claim victory in the women’s 52kg final, but lost out to Majlinda Kelmendi, who made history by winning Kosovo’s first Olympic gold medal. 

 One of Italy’s great hopes entering this edition of the Olympic Games had been the cycling road races, but the event provided a bittersweet ending for some of the country’s most decorated stars. Vincenzo Nibali needs no introduction and was one of the hot favourites entering the men’s race on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Italian, however, he was one of several high-profile riders to crash on the treacherous final descent, just 10km from the finish. 

 Nibali had been in the lead group along with Rafael Majka (Poland) and Sergio Henao (Colombia), but crashed on a tight corner on the way back down into Rio. The Italian suffered a double fracture of the collarbone and will now undergo surgery upon his return home, while Henao, who was unseated at the same corner, fractured his hip, according to the Colombian Olympic Committee. Belgian Greg Van Avermaet won the race with the Dane Jakob Fuglsang finishing second. A valiant performance from Majka saw the Polish rider claim the bronze. 

 On Sunday, meanwhile, the women’s version of the road race was no less eventful. The race was won by the Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen, bu was marred by an incident involving her teammate Annemiek van Vleuten, who was involved in a horrific crash, again on the final descent. Van Vleuten was subsequently taken to hospital where Dutch officials commented that she was conscious and capable of speech. 

 In another positive result for Italy, Elisa Longo Bordini claimed the bronze, after narrowly missing out during the final sprint. 

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