Rudolf Cvetko was the first Slovene to compete at the Olympic Games and the first to win an Olympic medal. Cvetko attended school in Ljubljana and then at a military academy in Trieste. He then served in the 16th Hungarian Infantry Regiment in Zagreb and Bjelovar, Croatia. After leaving the military in 1913 he worked as a physical education teacher at the state grammar school in Gorizia. Cvetko re-entered the Army for World War I, earning a bronze service medal in 1916, and he stayed in the military as a weapons officer, retiring in 1926.
Cvetko first learned fencing in 1904 at the gymnastics and fencing school of the Austro-Hungarian Army in Wiener Neustadt. By 1905 he was already a fencing instructor and judge. He finished second in the Austrian sabre championships in 1907 as well as second in the Austrian foil championships in 1912.
After his military retirement he headed the fencing section of the Ilirija Club, but after 1945 he concentrated on developing young fencers in Slovenia and his work with the Slovenian Fencing Federation. In his honor, Slovenia has issued a 3-euro coin with his name and fencing equipment on it.
Austria 
Yugoslavia
Slovenia