Olympic medals number 2 and 3 for Italy

The first day of the 2024 Olympic Games ended with an Italian double punch of medals. The main protagonists were a swimming team and a fencer.

July 27, 2024

From: mv

After the silver medal by professional cyclist and former world champion Filippo Ganna (SportNews berichtete) two more medals followed in the evening. In the 4x100-meter freestyle, the Italian relay team, consisting of Alessandro Miressi, Thomas Ceccon, Paolo Conte Bonin and Manuel Frigo, swam onto the podium and took third place - and thus the bronze medal.

The decisive factors for winning the medal were the times of Ceccon and Frigo, who showed extremely strong performances. Only the US boys (winners) and Australia were faster than the Azzurri. Leonardo Deplano and Lorenzo Zazzeri also competed for the Azzurri in the preliminary round.

Samele takes bronze

Previously, an Italian fencer had also won the bronze medal: Luigi Samele won the fight for third place against Egyptian Ziad Elsissy with 15:12 and made it onto the podium. Samele had already picked up a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo - back then it was a silver one.

Fencer Luigi Samele (right) with President Sergio Mattarella. © ANSA / Paolo Giandotti

In the semi-finals, Samele had to admit defeat to South Korean Sanguk Oh. After winning the fight for third place, Samele celebrated wildly and hugged President Sergio Mattarella full of emotion. "Today there was a special fan among the spectators, I just had to hug him," Samele said in an interview afterwards.