Was Aldo Nadi the "greatest fencer to ever live" ?

[The Fish]

Was he?

[Kenji]

By unknown, do you mean you don't know who he is, or you don't know? There's no choice for "I don't know," so I'm declaring this poll flawed =P

[Epee Scherma]

No. He was for his time period. But now it is Kolobkov.

[Kenji]

How can you be the "greatest fencer to ever live" for a time period?

You either are or you aren't. Only one person can be the "greatest fencer to ever live"... Unless you start breaking it down into foil, epee, saber, rapier, uncooked spaghetti, etc...

I think this begs the question of can ANYONE really be the "greatest fencer to ever live"? I mean, say we picked someone from the rennaissance that was an excellent fencer. Never once lost a duel. If you transported him to the modern day, and had him fence like say foil or something, he'd probably get flicked to death

It's kind of hard to be "greatest fencer to ever live" when rules and weapons, and even the purpose of fencing, change. Therefore, I stand by my position: this poll is flawed =)

[Frank Pratt]

Not by a long shot, according to conventional wisdom.

[I fence epee]

What about Nedo Nadi? 5 gold medals in one olympics. I'd say he'd be a good choice.

[striker]

Was Aldo Nadi the "greatest fencer to ever live" ?
Was he?

Here is my 2 cents.
I think it all depends on how one measures the success of a fencer.
According to this article from the American Fencing magazine, the
author concludes that Nedo Nadi was the greatest. You need Adobe
Acrobat to view the article in the browser. The author uses the criteria
of winning more than on individual gold medal. Nedo is the only fencer
who has won individual titles at more than one weapon.
http://www.aafla.org/OlympicInformat...15/ore115o.pdf
http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/p...par_i_id=54806

Aldo Nadi did not match his brother's medal count. Nedo had a total
of 6 Olympic gold medals to Aldo's 3 gold and one silver.
However Aldo Nadi has the track record of being the undefeated
European champion for over a decade. Also Aldo Nadi's
elegant, effective, skillful, and powerful fencing along with his
take no prisoners (attack/counter attack) fencing style
made him the greatest fencer of all time in the eyes of many
of his contemporaries.

[eac]

The sport has changed so much that it's not really a meaningful question. Neither Nadi brother would do very well at Nationals today in any weapon, even in his prime, because people fence very differently now, it's electric, and right-of-way has changed somewhat in interpretation. Both of them, I'm sure, would scream violently at the referees and most everyone else. Yes, probably Aldo was the best in his time at fencing as it was then, but 'all time' is impossible to measure, since no one at anything approximating a high level trains for the sport he trained for.

[Mihail]

I'd say Valentina Vezzali is better. Her list of accomplishments is daunting to say the least. She's modern fencing's greatest champion, and I'm pretty sure one of the greatest champions in the sport's history.

The level at which she plays the game is just so much higher than that of any of her competitors. Suffice it to say I'm a sabre-only fan, yet she is probably my favorite active fencer.

[Captain Hook]

why yes... yes he was

[Dante Alghieri]

Yes, if only because he claimed he was.

[Morion]

I am the greatest fencer to ever live.

So now I'm as good as Aldo Nadi?

Ah a legend in his own mind!

[rcmatthews]

why yes... yes he was

Do you own any moustache wax?

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

ME: Kolobkov
MF: Romankov
MS: Podzniakov
WE: Timea Nagy
WF: Valentin Vezalli
WS: This is a tough one. I'd say that mariel was the best, but I think that over the course of the next decade, Becca Ward will probably be considered the best WS fencer ever.

[I fence epee]

As always, it would help a lot to see video of Nedo and/or Aldo fencing. Does any exist?

[striker]

As always, it would help a lot to see video of Nedo and/or Aldo fencing. Does any exist?

I think there is a gentleman who goes by the name schlager7 on this
forum. He mentioned that he has seen a very short clip of Aldo Nadi fencing.
I do not know if he can share the clip. Who knows, maybe some of
these film footages do exist in some archive in Europe. I hope someone
can dig them up one day.

There are two bouts that would be great to watch.
The first one would be Aldo Nadi's bout against Lucien Gaudin
the French champion in which judges determined that Aldo lost the bout.
The second one would be the exhibition bout between Aldo and his
family rival and elder brother Nedo Nadi.

Aldo Nadi's brief work in the movie industry is listed here.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0618891/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0618891/bio

[I fence epee]

The sport has changed so much that it's not really a meaningful question. Neither Nadi brother would do very well at Nationals today in any weapon, even in his prime, because people fence very differently now, it's electric, and right-of-way has changed somewhat in interpretation. Both of them, I'm sure, would scream violently at the referees and most everyone else. Yes, probably Aldo was the best in his time at fencing as it was then, but 'all time' is impossible to measure, since no one at anything approximating a high level trains for the sport he trained for.

I disagree. At least in epee, I think either Nadi could do very well at our Nationals or in World Cups events. Probably foil too.

By the way, anybody know if Eduardo Mangiarotti has an opinion on this? I'm sure he's been asked. He must be one of the last high level epee fencers still living to have seen both the Nadi's and modern champions (kolobkov, etc.) fence.

[glowstix]

WE: Timea Nagy

i think flessel is better, even though she has one fewer olympic gold. foil and sabre?? who cares about those??

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

I disagree. At least in epee, I think either Nadi could do very well at our Nationals or in World Cups events. Probably foil too.

By the way, anybody know if Eduardo Mangiarotti has an opinion on this? I'm sure he's been asked. He must be one of the last high level epee fencers still living to have seen both the Nadi's and modern champions (kolobkov, etc.) fence.

I really doubt aldo or nedo could even make US jr points. Fencers today are faster and stronger, not to mention much more competitive. Fencing is becoming a sport, thank god, and drifting away from "a fair old art" or whatever the classicalists want to call it.

[OROD]

I really doubt aldo or nedo could even make US jr points.

One needs to remember that what they were fencing then is very different from what we are fencing now. Take Aldo Nadi and drop him in the olympics now and he'd get his clock cleaned. But, equally, I doubt the top fencers now could do well back then either. Also, they were fencing back in the day where you still got points for "style", weren't they?


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