Rubén Dario Limardo Gascón (born 3 August 1985) is a Venezuelan left-handed

épée The (, ; ), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains a ...

fencer, five-time team Pan American champion, four-time individual Pan American champion, three-time Olympian, and 2012 individual Olympic champion. Limardo competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. His younger brothers,

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de A ...

and

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, also compete in fencing on the international level. In 2015 he was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the

United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (, PSUV, ) is a Socialism, socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2007. It was formed from a merger of some of the political and social forces that support the Bolivar ...

Olympics

Born in

Ciudad Bolívar Ciudad Bolívar (; Spanish for "Bolivar City"), formerly known as Angostura and St. Thomas de Guyana, is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolívar, Venezuela, Bolívar State. It lies at the spot where the Orinoco River narrows to about ...

, Limardo competed for his native country in the 2008 Olympics

competition, placing 23rd. Limardo competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London winning a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the individual épée event at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre on 1 August, two days before his 27th birthday. He won the gold when he defeated Norway's Bartosz Piasecki 15–10 in the men's épée final, winning Venezuela's first ever fencing medal, and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

's first Olympic gold medal in épée in 108 years, after Ramón Fonst won the event in 1904. Limardo earned Venezuela's second gold medal in any Olympic Games with the first being at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games when Francisco Rodríguez won gold as a boxer in the light flyweight division. He competed in the team and individual épée events at the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Olympic Games. In the individual event, he was eliminated in the round of 32 by Ayman Mohamed Fayez of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, Romain Cannone of

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, and Tibor Andrásfi of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, respectively. He was the flagbearer for Venezuela during the opening ceremony in the 2016 Olympics.

Fencing background

Limardo began fencing at the age of seven, encouraged by an uncle who had discovered the sport in Hungary. He was originally a right-handed foil fencer before injury caused him to switch both hand and weapon. He was awarded the Venezuelan Order of the Liberator after winning his gold medal at the London Olympic Games. President

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

also presented him with a gold replica of Simon Bolivar's sword encrusted with precious stones. His brother Jesús Limardo also competes in fencing competitions. He has been a member of Piast

Gliwice Gliwice (; , ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capital ...

fencing club and currently resides in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, Poland.

Medal record

Olympic Games

World Championship

Pan American Championship

Grand Prix

World Cup

References

External links

* * * *
Ruben Limardo Gascon
at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics * {{DEFAULTSORT:Limardo, Ruben 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Ciudad Bolívar Venezuelan male épée fencers Olympic fencers for Venezuela Fencers at the 2007 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2011 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2019 Pan American Games Fencers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 2023 Pan American Games Olympic gold medalists for Venezuela Olympic medalists in fencing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Venezuela Pan American Games silver medalists for Venezuela Pan American Games gold medalists in fencing Pan American Games silver medalists in fencing Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Venezuela Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Venezuela Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Venezuela Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games South American Games gold medalists for Venezuela South American Games medalists in fencing Competitors at the 2010 South American Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in fencing World Fencing Championships medalists Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games 21st-century Venezuelan sportsmen Fencers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Left-handed fencers