ROSSELLA FIAMINGO QUEEN OF SWORDS

Rossella Fiamingo is an Italian left-handed Répée fencer and two-time individual world champion.

A three-time Olympian, Fiamingo is a 2021 team Olympic bronze medalist and 2016 individual Olympic silver medalist.

Fiamingo did ballet and rhythmic gymnastics as a child. She took up fencing when she was seven at the instigation of her father, who already drove her brother to a nearby fencing school, AS Methodos Catania. She was taught by Gianni Sperlinga, who remains her personal coach as of today. In 2004, she was selected into the cadet Italian national team. She won the 2007 Cadet European Championships in Novi Sad, then the 2008 Cadet World Championships at home, in Acireale. She earned both the individual and team gold medals in 2009 and 2010 at the Junior European Championships, then she won the 2010 European U23 Championships in Gdańsk.

Fiamingo joined the national senior team in the 2010–11 season. At the 2011 European Championships in Sheffield she reached the quarter-finals, where she was defeated by teammate Nathalie Moellhausen. The next season she climbed her first World Cup podium with a bronze medal in Doha, followed by a gold medal in Rio de Janeiro.