Azza Besbes ( ar, عزة بسباس; born 28 November 1990) is a Tunisian
sabre
A sabre ( French: sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...
fencer,
five-time African champion. She took part in the
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
,
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
and
2016 Summer Olympics, finishing 7th, 9th and 5th respectively.
Personal life
Besbes was born in a sports family: her father Ali is a former basketball player, who became a physical education teacher; her mother Hayet Ben Ghazi is a former
foil
Foil may refer to:
Materials
* Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine
* Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal
* Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food
* Tin foil, metal foil ...
fencer, who became an international referee. Her parents settled in Abu Dhabi before she was born. They had all their children–daughters Azza,
Sarra, Héla and Rym, son Ahmed Aziz–take up fencing. Sarra competed in the
women's épée at the
2012 Summer Olympics in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
[ ]
Career
Besbes took up fencing when she was six. She was first given a foil, but she found the weapon too quiet and switched to sabre under the coaching of Yan Nowara. When she was ten she joined the Tunis Air Club, where she trained until 2005, when the fencing section was closed for lack of funds. She went on training with the Tunisian national team for two years, then she moved to France.
She joined first the Cercle d'Escrime in Orleans, then US Metro in Paris, both clubs specialized in sabre, under a scholarship from the Tunisian Ministry of Youth and Sports. She was invited to share training sessions with the French national team. The same year Besbes posted a top-8 finish at the Junior World Fencing Championships
The World Cadets and Juniors Fencing Championships are an annual international fencing competition held by the International Fencing Federation.
History
Junior World Fencing Championships for athletes up to 20 years old. Also at the same time an ...
in Belek and she took a silver medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games
The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Nig ...
in Algiers. Besbes qualified to the individual event of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
as the top-ranked fencer of the African zone. She defeated South Africa's Jyoti Chetty, then France's Léonore Perrus
Léonore Simone Yvonne Perrus (born 22 April 1984) is a French fencer. She competed in the sabre events at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Honours
Orders
*Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite
Chevalier may refer to:
Honours B ...
, before meeting Canada's Olga Ovtchinnikova in the table of 16. The bout was marred by technical glitches: after Ovtchinnikova took a 9–5 lead, she struck a hit which did not register on the electrical apparatus and was finally denied. The incident occurred twice. After the problem was resolved, Besbes struck ten hits in a row to win the bout.
At the age of 18 she became the first female African athlete to fence in an Olympic quarter-final. She took a 9–6 lead against US fencer and World No.1 Rebecca Ward, but Ward levelled, before taking the advantage on 14–12. Besbes rallied to 14-all at the end of fencing time. The last hit required a lengthy video review and was finally given to Ward, who won the bout.
In the 2008–09 season Besbes posted a top-8 finish at the Ghent World Cup and earned the gold medal at the African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs.
List of Championships
;Athletics
*African Championships in Ath ...
in Dakar. The next year, she took a silver at the Africans in Tunis and reached the quarter-finals at the 2010 World Championships in Paris, before being stopped by Ukraine's Olena Khomrova
Olena Khomrova ( uk, Олена Хомрова; born May 16, 1987 in Mykolaiv) is a Ukrainian fencer and member of the team which won the gold medal in sabre at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Career
The Ukrainian team (she has stayed a member of) w ...
. In the 2010–11 season she climbed her first World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
with a bronze medal at the Bologna World Cup. She regained her African crown in Cairo and posted a last-16 finish at the World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in Catania. These results allowed her to close the season World No.8, a career best .Besbes qualified to the 2012 Summer Olympics as the top-ranked African fencer, this time with another Tunisian, Amira Ben Chaabane . Besbes defeated Hong Kong's Au Sin Ying in the first round, before losing out her next match to American fencer Dagmara Wozniak, with a score of 13–15.
Besbes again qualified to the individual event of the 2016 Summer Olympics, and reached the quarterfinal. She was ultimately ranked 5th after losing 15–14 against the French fencer Manon Brunet.
In 2017, she finished 2nd at the world championships in Leipzig in 2017, thus becoming the first Tunisian to become vice-world champion and the only one to have won a medal at the world championships in all three age categories. In 2018, Azza wins the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain.
References
External links
NBC Olympics Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besbes, Azza
Tunisian female sabre fencers
Living people
Olympic fencers for Tunisia
Fencers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Fencers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Fencers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
People from Abu Dhabi
1990 births
Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Tunisia
Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Tunisia
Fencers at the 2013 Mediterranean Games
Fencers at the 2018 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games medalists in fencing
Competitors at the 2007 All-Africa Games
African Games silver medalists for Tunisia
African Games medalists in fencing
21st-century Tunisian women
21st-century Tunisian people