Italian fencing legend Valentina Vezzali, 42, retires

Italian fencer Valentina Vezzali, one of the most successful athletes in the history of the Olympics, said yesterday she was going to retire at the age of 42. “There is a time for everything and I think this is the right time to take off my [fencing] mask, hang up my foil and start a new beginning,” Vezzali said in a video posted on her Facebook account. Italy’s Fencing Federation said Vezzali would play her last match against China in today’s quarter-finals of the Team World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. In Olympic Summer Games from 1996 to 2012, Vezzali won 6 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. In 2013, she ran in the Italian general elections for a centrist list headed by then-premier Mario Monti, and was elected to the lower house of parliament.