Stefano Cerioni (born 24 January 1964) is an Italian

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

fencer, Olympic team champion in 1984, Olympic champion in 1988 and World team champion in 1985 and 1994. He became a fencing master, then a director of foil, first for Italy, then for

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, then again for Italy.

Athletic career

Cerioni was born in 1964 in Madrid, where his father was working. His parents moved back to

Jesi Jesi () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Ancona, in the Italian region of Marche. It is an important industrial and artistic center in the floodplain on the left (north) bank of the Esino river, before its mouth on the Adria ...

, in Italy, when he was a child. He learned fencing under Ezio Triccoli, a family friend, who also coached Olympic champions

Valentina Vezzali Maria Valentina Vezzali (; born 14 February 1974) is an Italian politician and retired Olympic and World Champion foil fencer. As a fencer, Vezzali won six Olympic gold medals and was a 16-time World Champion in foil. She is one of only five a ...

and Giovanna Trillini in their formative years. He practiced both sabre and foil, but foil quickly gained his preference. Cerioni won the silver medal at the 1983 Junior World Championships in Budapest, then the gold medal in 1984 in Leningrad. He made his Olympic début at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles. He made his way to the semi-finals, where he met teammate

Mauro Numa Mauro Numa (born 8 November 1961 in Mestre) is an Italian fencer and one of the strongest during the 1980s.His career started very early and in 1979, at 18, he was included in the Foil's Italian Team. In 1980 Numa could not compete at the Moscow ...

. Despite a 6–1 lead in the first period, he was defeated 11–9. He fenced

Frédéric Pietruszka Frédéric Pietruszka (born 13 May 1954) is a French fencer. He won a gold medal in the team foil event at the 1980 Summer Olympics and a bronze in the same events at the 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics. He was president of the French Fencing Fe ...

of France in the “small final” and prevailed 10–5 to win the bronze medal. At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

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, Cerioni reached the semi-finals, where he was defeated by teammate Andrea Cipressa. He fenced Germany's Harald Stein for the bronze medal, but was disqualified for unsportsmanlike behaviour. His bad temper got the best of him once again in the 1986 World Championships in Sofia: this time he received a full-year suspension after abusing the referees during his bout against Austria's Joachim Wendt. After his return to competition, Cerioni won the 1987–88

Fencing World Cup The Fencing World Cup is an international fencing competition held by the International Fencing Federation. In each weapon (Men's and Women's Épée, Sabre and Foil), three Grand Prix, five World Cup events and several satellite events are conte ...

. At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, Cerioni defeated three-time World Champion Aleksandr Romankov from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the semi-finals, then East Germany's Udo Wagner, to earn the gold medal. The team ranked only 7th. At the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

he was eliminated in the round of 32 and could not defend his title. Italy also failed to earn a medal in the team event. A year later, Cerioni won the gold medal in the

1993 Mediterranean Games The XII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1993 Mediterranean Games, were the 12th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, from 16 June to 27 June 1993, where 2,598 athletes (1,994 men and 604 women) fr ...

and a team silver medal in the 1993 World Championships in Essen, followed by a team gold medal in the 1994 World Championships in Athens. In March 1996 his

maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning " master" or "teacher," plural: maestros or maestri) is an honorific title of respect, sometimes abbreviated Mo. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and oper ...

Ezio Triccoli died. Cerioni took over Club Scherma Jesi while going on with his career, earning a team silver medal at the 1997 World Championships in Cape Town. He retired in 2000 after 16 years in the national team.

Coaching career

Award ceremony 2014 European Championships FFS-EQ t210409

Cerioni became a fencing master after he ended his athlete career. His most famous pupil is

Elisa Di Francisca Elisa Di Francisca (; born 13 December 1982) is an Italian former Foil (fencing), foil Fencing, fencer, Olympic champion in 2012, World champion in 2010 and three-time European champion. She won the 2010–11 Fencing World Cup, 2010–11 World C ...

, whom he trained since she was 8. After the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

he succeeded Andrea Magro as director of foil at the

Italian Fencing Federation The Italian Fencing Federation (, FIS) is the national governing body for the fencing sport in Italy. The FIS is currently based in Rome. The FIS was founded in 1909 and was one of the nine founding nations of The Fédération Internationale d'Es ...

for the men's team. In 2008 his responsibilities were extended to women's. Under his direction Italy won gold medals in men's team foil and women's team foil and all three medals in women's foil at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, amongst which his own student Di Francesca. In December 2012 he announced that he would join the

Russian Fencing Federation The Russian Fencing Federation (RFF; is the governing body for the sport of fencing (sport), fencing in Russia. It was created in 1992. FFR was formerly a member of the European Fencing Confederation, but its membership was suspended in 2023. It ...

–Italy's main rival–as director of foil for both men and women, taking with him assistant coach Giovanni Bortolaso and physical conditioning trainer Maurizio Zomparelli. In the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Italy took the gold medal in men's team foil and two bronze medals in women's foil. The 2014 European Championships in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, brought two silver medals and two bronze medals. In the

at home in Kazan,

Aleksey Cheremisinov Aleksey Borisovich Cheremisinov (; born 9 July 1985) is a Russian right-handed foil fencer, two-time team European champion, two-time individual European champion, 2014 individual world champion, two-time Olympian, and 2016 team Olympic champi ...

took the title while the women's team earned a silver medal.

References

External links

*
archive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cerioni, Stefano 1964 births Living people Italian male fencers Italian foil fencers Olympic fencers for Italy Fencers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Olympic medalists in fencing Fencers from Madrid Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Italian fencing coaches Summer World University Games medalists in fencing Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in fencing Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Italy 20th-century Italian sportsmen