NEW YORK – Italy used a 5-0 run in the middle of the gold medal match to secure what might have been a 4th straight Olympic Gold medal. Italy defeated Romania 42-28 using a pair of masterful performances by world #1 Valentina Vezzali.
The match started slowly with Romania content to be patient and score on counter attacks against an aggressive Italian team.
After the first 4 bouts of the match, Italy held a small 14-12 lead. World Champion Valentina Vezzali, matched up against Romania’s Cristina Stahl (45th world ranking), put Italy out of reach with a very aggressive 5-0 bout win.
The rest of the Italians seemed sparked by Vezzali’s determination and all fenced more aggressively throughout the match. In their best chance to gain ground on the Italians, Stahl lost to Granbassi of Italy 4-2 and Italy gained their first double-digit lead of the match.
Romania turned up the aggressiveness in the last 2 matches, but was unable to make up any ground on Italy. Vezzali ended the last bout on a 5-2 run to end the match 42-28.
Women’s Team Foil is one of two team events excluded from this year’s Olympic Games in Athens. Had women’s foil been included in the Olympics, this match would have represented the gold medal match.
Match Scores:
| Italy | ITA Score | ROM Score | Romania |
| Vezzali | 5 | 3 | Scarlat |
| Granbassi | 7 | 5 | Badea |
| Trillini | 12 | 10 | Stahl |
| Granbassi | 14 | 12 | Scarlat |
| Vezzali | 19 | 12 | Stahl |
| Trillini | 25 | 16 | Badea |
| Granbassi | 29 | 18 | Stahl |
| Trillini | 37 | 26 | Scarlat |
| Vezzali | 42 | 28 | Badea |