CHIBA, Japan – Hungarian Aron Szilagyi became the first man to capture a hat-trick of Olympic gold medals in the same fencing event when he triumphed in the individual sabre final.
When he won the final point over Italy’s Luigi Samele, Szilagyi took his mask off and broke into a wide smile, pointing a finger to the sky.
“One of my first thoughts was – ‘I can´t believe it, it´s not happening, it’s not real, it´s just a dream’,” the 31-year-old said according to Reuters.
“I think I will need a couple of weeks, probably months, to believe what happened here.”
In the women’s individual epee final, the showdown between two of the world’s best fencers ended with China’s Sun Yiwen claiming her first gold after she outclassed top-ranked Romanian Ana Maria Popescu.
However, following her victory, Sun broke down in tears as she told Chinese media the heart-breaking dilemma she faced in recent weeks.
Before the Olympics, Sun discovered that her father was terminally ill and she was unsure if she would see him again as she would have to spend a number of days in quarantine on her return to Beijing.
“It was a high probability for me to not be able to see him again after the competition at Tokyo 2020,” Sun said as she struggled to speak through her tears.
“But luckily he is still alive. We remain hopeful, me and my family.”
A volunteer swiftly came over with a pack of tissues, while bronze medallist Katrina Lehis stroked her back.
In a tight bout, Sun managed to keep her lead as she earned China a third gold medal on the first full day of Olympic competition.
Szilagyi, on the other hand, came close to losing a tight and tense semi-final against Georgian Sandro Bazadze. They were locked at 13-13 and Szilagyi’s final two points were awarded after deliberation by the referees, prompting Bazadze to throw his arms up in the air and eventually storm off into a back room.
The Hungarian began the final with quick, decisive strokes, and the bout was over within 10 minutes.
He took in the cheers from the volunteers, team members, and Olympic-related staff present in an otherwise empty venue and held the Hungarian flag aloft, while silver medallist Samele shrugged in resignation towards his team mates before a coach started to massage his sore leg.
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