Bebe Vio Grandis at the 2024 Paris Paralympics

In the latest edition of the Paralympic Games, Baby Vio took home two medals: a gold in individual foil and a silver in the team event. Now, in the edition in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, he is trying to enrich his trophy cabinet. With his usual tenacity and a pinch of irony.

On the opening day of the Paris Paralympic Games, Bebe Vio posted a video of the opening of the package containing the material made available by the Italian National team, received like all the competing athletes. The fencer, always friendly and self-deprecating, decided to share it with her followers on social media the contents of the equipmentAnd.

In the video, Bebe Vio shows the shirts, towels, tracksuit and much more. But then her attention falls on the many socks. “Indispensable! These go straight to my sister!” the comment that makes fun of her prosthetics. While waiting to step onto the platform, Bebe makes a prediction about her third Olympic Games. «In Paralympic fencing, the toughest opponents are always the Chinese and Asians in general, all strong and competitive to the max. The Paralympics are incredibly cool, because on this occasion, a lot of attention is given to our movement. Everyone chooses whether they feel perfect or not, choosing their own strong point. This change of strength is very nice. I still remember my first call-up to the national team: I was a minor and my parents left all the material of the national team in my room, an immense joy».

“They say that scars tell the story of those who bear them, I don’t agree. It doesn’t say that I do fencing! At most they say that I had an illness” says the Italian. A Republic he talked about the big change that has happened for Paralympic athletes. “We officially joined the military groups: being able to make a job out of sport was the biggest achievement. But also seeing that children talk about sport and disability at school, playing with Barbie and dolls with prostheses or wheelchairs. Disability becomes normal. The worst phrase I always hear is: “Despite everything, look what he’s doing”. This “despite everything” makes me sad…Nowadays sport has legitimized disability, a lot of activity was needed to make it become something normal, which is also right to joke about».

The countdown to see her in action has begun. Bebe, who in her career has also won five world gold medals and as many European ones in individual and team events, will compete on Wednesday 4 September in the women’s individual foil (competitions starting at 9) and Thursday 5th in the women’s team foil (starting at 11.30).

After starting to practice fencing at the age of five, Bebe Vio had meningitis that resulted in the partial amputation of her limbs. So, at 11, her life changed, but her passion for fencing remained. At seventeen, the first successes, then the big leap. Today she is one of the most famous Paralympic athletes on the planet, so much so that she was called to be part of the opening ceremony of the games.

At these Paralympics Bebe Vio is Baby Vio Grandis. She added her mother’s surname to her father’s. She explained to Fanpage: “It was a common family choice to add her mother’s surname, we wanted to do it out of pure pride. It took us a while because it was really a mess to do all the paperwork. We thought it was right towards her mother, towards her family, to have that part of history with us. And she was proud of it.”