Golden in Helsinki 1952, she was the first Olympic fencing champion and the first woman to graduate in Industrial Chemistry
Irene Camber, one of the absolute stars of Italian fencing and sport, has died at the age of 98. Born in Trieste on 12 February 1926, she won the individual foil title at the 1952 Helsinki Games: the first women’s gold medal in Italian fencing at the Games. Her list of triumphs is very long: she was world champion in Brussels 1953, and then also won team world championship gold in 1957 in Paris, Olympic bronze with the Italian foil team in Rome 1960.
the lesson
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With the simplicity and humility of a great woman, before being a champion, Irene Camber was also the first woman to graduate in industrial chemistry (at the University of Padua). “My father’s teaching, which I pass on, is that the important thing is not to win but to win with honesty, without anyone giving you anything. And I tell the very young fencers to be patient and determined, because our sport is a long challenge first with oneself” she declared in an interview with Federscherma.
Today she will be remembered at the European Youth Championships underway in Naples. And the president of Federscherma, Paolo Azzi, expressed “the infinite condolences of our entire world for the passing of an extraordinary protagonist on the stage and beyond”.
Irene Camber’s funeral will be celebrated on Monday morning in Lissone.
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