Congratulations to Student Bebe Vio on 3rd Paralympic World Championship Fencing Title
Our best congratulations to JCU student Beatrice Vio who just won her 3rd World Championship Title in the foil event. Vio won the gold medal in the wheelchair fencing foil event at the Paralympic World Championships in Cheongju, South Korea. This is Vio’s third world title after those won in Eger, Hungary, in 2015 and in Rome in 2017.
Bebe Vio
Bebe, who has been fencing since she was five years old, contracted a severe form of meningitis when she was 11, which led to the amputation of both her legs from the knee, and both her arms from the forearms. But just one year after her illness, Bebe started to fence again. She is a 2014, 2016, and 2018 European champion, 2015 and 2017 and 2019 World champion, and 2016 Paralympic champion in the foil B category. Bebe is active in the non-profit organization Art4Sport, which is dedicated to using sports as therapy for child amputees.
John Cabot University President Franco Pavoncello said, “Congratulations to our student Bebe Vio on her latest victory. She is an inspiration to the John Cabot University community and to young people everywhere.”
Bebe, who studies Communications at JCU, received the Innovation Leadership Award at the Italian Parliament in December 2018. On that occasion, she was asked by journalists how she sees her future and she explained that she wants to become the first female President of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). “Women need to fight for what they want. Luckily for me, I don’t even ask myself if it’s possible, I just think about making it happen,” said Bebe.
