The Olympic Dictionary 136 NABER JOHN PHILLIPS
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The Olympic Dictionary N NABER JOHN PHILLIPS (swimming, USA, b. Evanston, Illinois, 20/1/1956). One appearance (1976), 4 gold medals (100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, 4x200 freestyle and 4x100 medley) and one silver (200 freestyle). He won 4 gold medals in Montreal, all with world record times: respectively, 55.49 in the 100 backstroke (after 56.19 in the heats, also a record), 7:23.22 in the 4x200 freestyle, 3:42.22 in the 4x100 medley and 1:59.19 in the 200 backstroke (the first person below 2 minutes, one month after having set the record at 2:00.64). His world records in the 100 and 200 backstroke were broken only in 1983. He also won 3 gold medals at the 1977 Pan-American Games, a World Championship bronze (1973) in the 200 backstroke, 18 AAU titles (plus 7 in relay events) and 10 NCAA titles (plus 5). He began swimming only at the age of 13, after having lived with his family in Italy and England, but while visiting the ruins of Olympia, in Greece, when he was 9, he said to his parents: “One day I will be an Olympic champion”. NADI ALDO (fencing, Italy, b. Livorno 29/4/1899, d. Los Angeles, California, USA, 11/11/1965). One appearance (1920), 3 gold medals (team foil, team épée and team sabre) and one silver (individual sabre). In 1920, the year in which he was Italian foil champion, he won 3 gold medals in Antwerp with his brother Nedo (q.v.), and he won silver in the individual sabre behind Nedo. In team foil, he fought 3 bouts in the final round (including the deciding match with France, beaten 9- 7), winning 11 victories in 12 assaults; in épée, the Italians won 5 bouts out of 5 in the final round, which ended with a victory against the USA with just one assault, won by Nedo against Lyon, because the Americans hoisted the Italian onto their shoulders in triumph, abandoning the rest of the match; in the sabre Aldo won 22 assaults out of 24 in the final round, ending ahead of France, beaten 13-3. In the team foil final, he beat the French fencer Gaudin, and accepted a return match in Paris for money. He lost in 20 assaults, and ended his amateur career because for this latter match he was considered a professional, and as a “pro” he won 8 Italian titles. After his marriage ended, he moved to Paris before the War and then to New York, teaching fencing in Elizabeth Arden’s beauty salon. He featured in a few cloak and dagger films, and coached many actors, including Tyrone Power. He was famous for his duels: during the Antwerp Games he won an unusual duel with Filippo Bottino (q.v.), weightlifting gold medallist: Nadi had a whip, Bottino a beam, which fell to the ground when Nadi struck Bottino’s right hand. On another occasion he challenged journalist Adolfo Cotronei, who had mocked him in public for erroneously forecasting a result: the duel ended when Cotronei, bleeding from many wounds, lowered his weapon as if to apologize, while his second and the doctors were very worried: “Nadi wants to kill him”. And in 1968 Nadi challenged Edoardo Mangiarotti (q.v.) because the latter had received a certificate from CONI with the citation “fencer of great repute”, while Edo’s certificate just had the phrase “excellent fencer”. Nadi refused the certificate that was to be presented to him by the ambassador in the USA, claiming that Mangiarotti was unfairly favoured by the CONI president, Giulio Onesti (q.v.). The duel was to have taken place in the Netherlands Antilles: the weapon chosen was the pistol, as Nadi could not fence because of a fall from a horse. Mangiarotti refused saying: “I am not a pigeon shooter”. Nadi spent the last years of his life in Los Angeles, and his ashes were scattered in the ocean. “He did not reach Nedo’s ‘undying glory’ purely because he did not have the same strict discipline that his brother applied to all things in life” (Ciro Verratti). 136 The Olympic Dictionary NADI NEDO (fencing, Italy, b. Livorno 9/6/1894, d. Rome 29/1/1940). Two appearances (1912, 1920), 6 gold medals (individual foil 1912 and 1920, team foil 1920, team épée 1920, individual sabre 1920, team sabre 1920). 1912 1-0-0, 1920 5-0-0. He first took to the piste at the age of 6, encouraged by his father Giuseppe, who had opened the Fides fencing gym in Livorno in 1892. The tough training that his father gave him when he was a child enabled him to win his first junior tournament in Milan when he was ten. His principal opponent was his brother Aldo (q.v.), 5 years younger but already on the piste when he was 4; the rivalry between the two brothers was encouraged by their father as a method of enabling both to improve. In 1908 Nedo made his international debut by winning the Vienna International Tournament, and four years later, he was in Stockholm for the Games. He took part in individual foil, and struggled to get through the first rounds, partly due to an attack of bronchitis. The Modena-born gymnast Alberto Braglia (q.v.) treated him with his own cure, giving him large quantities of Lambrusco wine; Nedo reached the eight-contestant final with one defeat, winning all the assaults and taking the gold medal ahead of his team mate Pietro Speciale (q.v.). He was unable to fence during the First World War, in which he was a cavalry officer in the Alessandria Regiment and won three military decorations, but in 1919 he returned to competition at the Inter-Allied Games in Joinville, where he won in individual foil and team sabre, coming second in team foil. At the 1920 Antwerp Games he was the star of the show, winning 5 gold medals. The first was team foil: in the final with France, he won 14 assaults out of 16 and lost 2 contests against France, but the victories by Aldo (q.v.) clinched gold for Italy. In individual foil he ended up with 22 wins and 2 defeats, achieving the gold thanks to ko of French Ducret at the last contest against Italian Speciale (q.v.). After the gold medal that he won in team épée, King Albert of Belgium, seeing him on the podium for the third time, thought that there must have been some error, but Nedo reassured him: “No error, Your Majesty. And with your permission, I will return again”. In fact he went on to win in team sabre (19 wins out of 20 assaults) and individual sabre, the only not Hungarian to win a gold between 1908 and 1964, with 11 wins and one defeat in eliminatory and 11 wins out of 11 in the final pool, finishing ahead of his brother Aldo. He missed only the individual épée contest because he came down with a fever. “Nedo Nadi had a fantastic day”, reported La Gazzetta dello Sport describing the last of his 5 golds, “elegant, agile and confident on the piste; in both the semi-finals and the finals, he despatched his opponents with disdainful ease. In the final he achieved 33 hits, receiving just 4. In a bout with a Belgian considered as one of the best fencers, he hit him on target with a powerful sweeping cut, one that the hapless victim was not expecting. ‘Touché légérement!’ said the judge impassively, a wry smile appearing briefly on his lips. ‘Légérement, I’ll be damned’, retorted Aldo Nadi who was waiting for his bout, ‘he almost chopped him in half!’”. With his 5 wins in Antwerp, he became the only fencer to win a gold medal in all three specialities in just one Olympics. He returned to Livorno, and accepted the offer of a job from a fellow townsman as a fencing coach at the Buenos Aires Jockey Club. In Argentina he also began working as a journalist. He returned to Italy in 1923, weak and in bad health, but he recommenced competition, and at the 1930 World Masters Championships in Antwerp he won the title in individual épée, the only one that he had failed to win at the Games ten years earlier. He retired and became coach of the Italian team, leading them during the 1932 Los Angeles Games (the team won 2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals) and the 1936 Berlin Games (4 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals). From 1936 he was also president of the Italian Fencing Federation, a position that he held until his death in 1940, following a haemorrhage suffered while praying with his wife Roma Ferralasco. NAKAYAMA AKINORI (gymnastics, Japan, b. Aichi prefecture 1/3/1943). Two appearances (1968, 1972), 6 gold (rings 1968 and 1972, team 1968 and 1972, parallel bars 1968, horizontal bar 1968), 2 silver (floor exercise 1968 and 1972) and 2 bronze (individual all-round 1968 and 1972) medals. 1968 4-1-1, 1972 2-1-1. His performance, particularly innovative on the parallel bars, was crucial in 2 of the 5 consecutive gold medals won by Japan at the Olympics. He shared the gold for the 1968 horizontal bar with the Soviet gymnast Voronib (q.v.). In the World Championships he 137 The Olympic Dictionary won 7 gold (floor exercise 1966-70, team 1966-70, horizontal bar 1966, rings 1970, parallel bars 1970), 2 silver and 3 bronze medals. NAMIBIA (Republic of Namibia, Africa, capital Windhoek, area 824.115 km2, population 2.074.148).