Gino Belloni

Gino Belloni, a relatively tall and heavy fencer, achieved his first top placings in tournaments in Italy in 1905. From his early years, he was almost equally successful with foil, épée and sabre. It was the latter, however, that he preferred. In 1908, he won the championship of Lombardy in both the foil and sabre events. He married Luigia Rosa Maddalena Maria Boschetti still in 1908. Belloni continued to win various tournaments nationally, before he won an international sabre tournament in Wien (Vienna) with the team from Brescia and finished second in the individual event in 1911. In the same year, he repeated his earlier feat at the championship of Lombardy, and won sabre tournaments in Budapest and Berlin.

Belloni was selected to compete at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm but was only deployed in the sabre team, which only placed a disappointing fifth. In 1913, he won the home tournament in Cremona in the foil and sabre events and placed second in the épée. During World War I, sports events became scarce and Belloni struggled with health problems making him vanish from the international scene for several years. Beginning in 1919, he managed his home club in Cremona and in 1920 he had regained his strength and was prepared to go to the Antwerpen (Antwerp) Olympics. With a reputation of “unruly” behaviour, he was disliked by many of his fellow countrymen in the team and was eventually scraped from the list of potential starters.

In 1921, Belloni was still on a high level beating the strong Hungarians with the Italian sabre team in Cremona and won his only Italian championship, on home ground with the foil in 1922. Already in his late 30s and again suffering from throat problems he coached young talents in his club and took on the challenge of an encounter with triple gold-medallist Aldo Nadi, who had turned professional after the Antwerpen Olympics. In the run-up to the Paris Games, Belloni demanded to hold trials, obviously still hoping for a second Olympic appearance. To maintain his chances, he decided to undergo a delicate throat surgery. Although seemingly successful, complications due to tracheal edema eventually led to his death in the clinic in Cremona.