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Giorgio Avola is an Italian fencer and bicycle lover. Giorgio won gold in the men’s team foil in the 2012 London Olympics and followed it with a gold at the 2013 World Championship and a silver at the 2014 European Championship. Giorgio tells his story about moving through the ranks of fencing, and taking his bicycle to get there: 

I started fencing at age 6; my family was captured by its elegance during the Olympics. My mum decided to take me to the fencing club in my little town in the east part of Sicily.

My arm was too weak for the heavy iron foil but after a few weeks I decided to fence with it anyways; I hated the plastic one! I always went to the [fencing] club by bicycle, carrying my fencing bag on my shoulders. [Riding] back home after training was always hard [because] my legs were tired but it kept them stronger and made them more powerful.

At 12 years old, I became Italian Champion. At 16, I went to my first World Championships in Korea. In 2011, I won the European Championships and took bronze at Worlds. I was 21.