The Montano family from Italy already had their place in Olympic fencing history previous to the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

The father, Aldo Montano competed in the Berlin 1936 and London 1948 Olympics, taking a silver medal in each of them. 24 years later, his son Mario Aldo Montano made his Olympic debut in Munich 1972, winning an Olympic gold medal. Mario Montano would still get two more medals, this time silver, in Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980.

In the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Mario’s son Aldo Montano took with him not only his grandfather’s name, but also the family’s Olympic medal tradition.

Reaching the final, Aldo had already kept to the family’s Olympic tradition by guaranteeing a medal. Now his objective was to take gold. The title match against Zsolt Nemcsik from Hungary was an uphill struggle for Montano. Nemcsik took an early 5x1 lead which forced the Italian to battle for a draw.

At the end, with a tight 15-14 score, Aldo Montano won the Olympic gold medal and confirmed the Montano fencer family tradition. Three generations, six Olympic medals.