Italy falls for ‘Bebe’
ITALIAN wheelchair fencer Beatrice Vio is a sporting icon in her native Italy, where she is a regular guest at Milan Fashion Week and has over a million followers on Instagram.
The 24-year-old, known as ‘Bebe’, started fencing at the age of five, but had both legs and forearms amputated when she contracted meningitis as an 11-year-old.
She turned her attention to wheelchair fencing and claimed a gold and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
But she has not been able to compete for two years because of the pandemic.
“I don’t know what is going to happen this time, but I’m just so happy to be here,” she said. “I miss the vibration of the competition.”