Aldo Nadi

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Men's Fencing
Olympic medal record
Gold	1920 Antwerp	Team foil
Gold	1920 Antwerp	Team épée
Gold	1920 Antwerp	Team sabre
Silver	1920 Antwerp	Individual sabre

Aldo Nadi (April 29, 1899-November 10, 1965) is considered among the greatest fencers of all time.

Aldo was born into a fencing family in Livorno, Italy, and both Aldo and his brother Nedo Nadi were fencers from a very young age. They were both taught in the classical Italian school of fencing by their father, Beppe Nadi, and both were already winning competitions by their teenage years. Though Nedo won more gold medals (six to Aldo's three), Aldo is generally considered the better of the two. His opponents include the famous French fencer, Lucien Gaudin.

In 1920, at the age of 21, Nadi won gold medals at the Olympics in team foil, team epee, and team sabre, and a silver medal in individual sabre.

He died in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles, California.

Aldo Nadi stated that the lunge should start with the point being exploded into the target by an unrestrained, cataclysmic (in a sense) drive originating from the left leg. The right heel should be the last part of the body to be put into motion in a lunge. Nadi likened the motion of the lunge to falling face forward toward your opponent (being driven of course by the back leg straightening) with the motion of the front leg serving only to catch your balance after the touch is made. Nadi believed that one must let the point lead the lunge toward the target and every ounce of energy, strength, and momentum be garnered by the fencer to propel that point toward the target. Thus one doesn't push the point toward the target. The point pulls the fencer toward the target and the fencer must learn how to convert all her energy and power to back up that point until it is driven home. The process of learning this lunge involves learning to use the energy from the back leg pushing in order to shift your momentum, weight and force to the point of your weapon. He writes very clearly that the right foot should land after the touch and only to prevent the fencer from falling on her face. Nadi notes that moving the leading leg first (kicking out, in a sense) is a dead give-away to the lunge and that in mastering his technique the fencer's point will move inexorably and irresistably into the target. Nadi writes that it was one of the gravest teaching errors he saw when fencing coaches chided their students for allowing the trailing leg to be dragged forward an inch or two because of the force and momentum of her lunge. Nadi wrote that in a well executed lunge the momentum and force the fencer generates results in the trailing foot being dragged an inch or two. Once you have experienced both lunges, the method described by the Master (Nadi) is indisputably the method you will prefer. It feels faster and more powerful to the fencer - and that is because it is. The "French" style certainly looks more refined - but that isn't what fencing is about.