Rudolf Cvetko (November 17, 1880 – December 15, 1977) was a Slovene fencer who was the first Slovene winner of an Olympic medal. A competitor at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, Cvetko was part of the Austrian sabre team, which won the silver medal, though in the individual foil event he was eliminated in the first round. Cvetko was born in

Senožeče Senožeče (; , ) is a settlement in the Municipality of Divača in the Littoral region of Slovenia. Name Senožeče was attested in historical sources as ''Sehenossecsch'' in 1217, ''Senosensach'' in 1297, and ''Sinesecha'' in 1310, among other s ...

to a Slovene

gendarme A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (). In France and som ...

Janez Cvetko. He studied in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

and in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

. He served in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

between 1900 and 1913, after which he worked as a

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher in the Slovene-language high school in

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

. After WWI, he moved to the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

References

External links

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Rudolf Cvetko Olympic medals and stats
* 1880 births 1977 deaths Slovenian male foil fencers Olympic fencers for Austria Fencers at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Austria Olympic medalists in fencing Slovenian referees and umpires Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Slovenian male sabre fencers {{Slovenia-Olympic-medalist-stub