Maria Vicol

Maria Vicol
Vicol at the 1960 Olympics
Personal information
Full nameMaria Taitiș-Vicol
Born(1935-10-17)17 October 1935
Bucharest, Romania
Died13 March 2015(2015-03-13) (aged 79)
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight57 kg (126 lb)
Sport
SportFencing
EventFoil
Coached byAngelo Pellegrini[1]
Medal record
Representing the  Romania
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 1960 Rome Foil
Bronze medal – third place 1968 Mexico Team foil
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1969 Havana Team foil
Silver medal – second place 1965 Paris Team foil
Silver medal – second place 1970 Ankara Team foil
Bronze medal – third place 1961 Turin Team foil

Maria Vicol (née Taitiș, 17 October 1935 – 13 March 2015) was a Romanian foil fencer, Olympic bronze medalist in 1960 and an Olympic team bronze medalist in 1968.[2][3]

Career

Vicol took up fencing at Progresul Bucharest, where she was trained by Angelo Pellegrini.[4] In April 1956 she won a silver medal at the Junior World Championships in Luxembourg, bringing Romania its first fencing medal in a major competition. This was followed by a bronze medal in the individual foil at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.[5] She was part of the same generation as Olga Szabo, Ana Pascu, Ecaterina Stahl, Ileana Jenei, and Suzana Ardeleanu, with whom she won several team medals in the World Championships: bronze at the 1961 World Fencing Championships in Turin, silver at the 1965 World Fencing Championships in Paris and the 1970 World Fencing Championships in Ankara and gold at the 1969 World Fencing Championships in Havana.[4] She also earned a team bronze medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico.[6]

Vicol began teaching fencing in 1968 at CS Cutezătorii. She then moved to CS Bucharest, where she discovered the future Olympic champion Laura Badea-Cârlescu.[4] She was also an international referee.

Vicol died on 13 March 2015, aged 79. She was married to the rugby player Florin Vicol.[1][7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maria Vicol.
  1. ^ a b Maria Vicol. Romanian Olympic Committee
  2. ^ "Maria Vicol Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  3. ^ "Maria Vicol, prima medaliată olimpică din istoria scrimei româneşti! Peste ani, a descoperit-o pe Laura Badea". FANATIK.RO (in Romanian). 2021-06-04. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  4. ^ a b c Nicu, Alexe, ed. (2002), "Federația Română de Scrimă", Educaţiei Fizice și Sportului din România (PDF) (in Romanian), vol. 1, Bucharest: Aramis, p. 1057
  5. ^ "1960 Summer Olympics – Rome, Italy – Fencing" Archived 2007-02-19 at the Wayback Machine databaseOlympics.com (Retrieved on 27 September 2008)
  6. ^ "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  7. ^ "A încetat din viață Maria Vicol!" (in Romanian). Romanian Fencing Federation. 13 March 2015.