bebe vio biography english

The incredible story of Bebe Vio: The girl with no arms and legs who rose to sports stardom

Beatrice "“Bebe" Maria Vio, the most popular Italian wheelchair fencer, is a living example of how a terrible misfortune can be transformed into a glorious destiny.

Bornin Venice and raised in Mogliano Veneto, she won the Gold Medal in the 2016Paralympic Games based in Rio, by getting the winning score against the ChineseZhou Jingjing: that was the climax of a long series slams and finally the eventthat brought her huge media attention.

Atthe age of eleven, Bebe contracted a severe meningitis that caused her the lossof both arms and legs and several face and body scars. After three months ofintense rehabilitation and thanks to a prosthesis specifically designed for her,she could go back to the love of her life, fencing: a discipline she had beenpracticing since the age of five.

Asshe explained on national TV, soon after the end of the rehab she went straightto the prosthetic centre saying: "“Do something, give me something, but I want togo back to practice fencing!" The professionals working at the centre told her aboutthe possibility to do fencing on the wheelchair. Bebe replied: "“Fencing in awheelchair? Nooo, this is stuff for handicapped people, I don't want it!" Lateron, she humbly admitted how extremely ignorant she was about the Paralympicworld and disability in general. Right from there her new life started itscourse.

"“Howcould that be possible," you may wonder, "“to showcase such a genuine andundefeated grit?" not merely referring to her victories, but to the innerstrength that accompanies every moment of her daily life. Fortune, or vocation,or innate skills, I leave you the choice.

Noone, not even her own parents, believed she could go back to hold the foil withsuch agility. Well, all the credit belongs to Bebe, to her strength, optimismand spirit of competition, but also to the lead of her two coaches, FedericaBerton and Alice Esposito, that pushed her in 2010 to take part in her firstwheelchair fencing competition, becoming the first athlete in the world to pullfencing with prosthetic arms.

Despiteher young age, many are the sports awards she has gained since that day. To namea few: the Under 20 Italian Championship in 2011, which became the Overall Titlein the following two years; the double gold at the Strasbourg Europeans of2014, both with the individual foil and team game; gold again in the same yearat the Under 17 World Cup in Warsaw. More recently, Bebe scored another gold asindividual at the 2015 World Championships in Eger, while at the games ofCasale Monferrato, in 2016, she reconquered the European gold.

Nowadays,Bebe's sports career has become emblematic of turning a severe impairment into aspecial gift and is probably what inspired her parents in creating a non-profitorganisation. The "“Art4sport Onlus" promotes sport for amputee young people andhelps their efforts succeed.

Today,Bebe Vio gains and actions are not just limited to sport. A great commitmenthas been put into many campaigns for vaccination against meningitis, which haveseen her also posing for the Australian photographer Anne Geddes.

Anotherremarkable event was being part of the special guests added to the Italiangovernment delegation who attended the last official dinner at the White Houseof the Obama administration. When she received the formal invitation, shethought to be a victim of "“Scherzi a parte", the Italian TV pranks series,making publicly fun of herself on Facebook.

Whatthe audience love the most of this incredible girl is exactly her self-ironythat makes everybody laughs anytime she opens her mouth and talks aboutherself: "“Mom always told me that I could become anything in life... so I decidedto be a selfie stick!" - That is the statement that she posted on Facebook a few months ago, whilepublishing a selfie using her right prosthesis. Needless to say, in just a fewhours the "“likes" and "“shares" became thousands.

"“Being specialmeans to be able to make people understand that your weakness can be one of thethings you can be proud of the most".

In the end, citing Sir Edmund Hillary, "“it's not themountain we conquer, but ourselves", and so far, she seems to have achieved,widely, the top of herself.

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Paralympic Games: Fencing without arms – Meet Beatrice ‘Bebe’ Vio, two-time champion & a global icon

In tokyo, the italian sensation secured a second paralympics games gold medal to go with her rio triumph five years ago. but she is more than just an athlete..

Beatrice Vio enters the fencing arena gracefully and graciously, uttering quiet words of good luck to her competitors. But within minutes she is transformed into an unflinching force of nature.

The effervescent 24-year-old Paralympian, popularly known as Bebe, becomes almost possessed once she removes all four of her prosthetic limbs, attaches a foil to her amputated left arm and is strapped into her wheelchair on the fencing piste.

“When I fight, I have to take off my prostheses and I can’t hold on to the wheelchair,” said Vio. “For this reason I have to train my abdominals in a particular way to keep myself in balance and move quickly.”

And move quickly she does. A few moments later the Foil Category B bout is all over in a blur of movement. Vio sways like a balletic cobra before lunging to strike at lightning speed accompanied by her banshee cries as she registers an opening 5-0 win. Seven hours and eight more victories later at Tokyo’s Makuhari Messe Hall on Saturday, with her decibel levels rising each time and her joy becoming infectious, the Italian sensation secures a second Paralympics Games gold medal to go with her Rio triumph five years ago.

Se sembra impossibile, allora si può fare... 2 volte! 🥇🥇 📸 @Federscherma #Paralympics #Paralimpiadi2020 #Tokyo2020 #Federscherma pic.twitter.com/bKAhCwVS7R — Beatrice Vio (@VioBebe) August 28, 2021

Vio’s celebrations during her 15-9 victory over China’s Zhou Jingjing, in a repeat of the Rio final, are mesmerising – an explosion of frenzied emotion that is part bouncing with a child-like squeal, and part primal scream.

“I couldn’t believe this was happening and so I started, like I was crying and screaming and, gosh, I think tonight I’m gonna start screaming again,” she said.

‘You can’t be afraid’

Her passion extends beyond the arena, where she wants to inspire young people through her sheer exuberance for life – depicted so beautifully in the acclaimed documentary Rising Phoenix as one of nine featured Paralympians.

Her silhouette – steel legs, arm seamlessly tapering into a sword, steel mesh mask – is that of a superhero.

But she is much more: a motivational speaker, an author, an actor, a television host, a campaigner for people with impairments and a promoter of disability sport.

“A strong advocate for a positive body image, Vio had both her legs amputated from the knee and her arms from the forearm in 2008 at the age of 11 after contracting severe meningitis. She uses special prosthetics to hold her weapon and maintain her position in her fencing wheelchair.” — via Paralympic.org

Vio fell in love with fencing as a five-year-old but six years later was diagnosed with rare fulminant meningitis, and to save her life it was necessary to amputate her legs and forearms to stave off creeping necrosis. The rampant, rapidly advancing bacterial infection turned the life of a carefree, energetic, talented child upside-down in just three days.

But she counts herself lucky – just four percent of those afflicted by that strain of meningitis survive. Once her arms were amputated, she and her family thought the worst was over but it wasn’t. Then her legs had to be amputated too. When her parents were scared, Vio took the decision for them. If there is a chance that she will live, she said the amputations were fine. She recalled those days as a fencing match with her own body.

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Bebe Vio wins second Paralympic gold medal in wheelchair fencing after dominant performance at Tokyo 2020

Bebe Vio extends the incredible summer of sport for Italy with an superb display at the women's foil individual - category B event in Japan

Bebe Vio beat Jingjing Zhou of China 15-9 in the final to defend her Paralympic wheelchair fencing title against the same opponent as Rio 2016.

The Italian captured the globe's imagination with her performance five years ago at Rio 2016 and the popular 24-year-old didn't disappoint putting on a dominant display.

Vio cruised through the pool stage and look in control throughout all of the knockouts. Zhou, the current world number five, fell aside to Bebe's aggressive style.

The win comes after a set of challenging circumstances surrounding preparations.

"I puked so many times this morning I was so stressed. And I fell on the floor after the semi-final. So I was not feeling like so well," she said to Olympics.com.

"Italy is my favourite place in the world. And, so, I [have] cried every time I listen to the anthem.

"It's amazing being with the soccer team [who won the European Championship], being with [Gianmarco] Tamberi [who won the Olympic high jump]... We are so proud to be part of this big family of Italy."

Bebe Vio: Another big performance at the Paralympics

Bebe Vio let off an almighty scream immediately after her victory in the gold medal bout at Rio 2016. It made her into a sporting icon.

The Italian’s emotional celebration propelled her to international fame. The 24-year-old has graced the cover of Vanity Fair magazine and has amassed an incredible 1.1m followers on Instagram .

She went into the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics as the number one ranked fencer in the individual women’s foil – category B. But injury problems and a lack of competitive action leading up to the Games meant she was lacking in confidence.

“I don’t know how it is going to be because the last time [I was fencing competitively] was 3 August 2020,” Vio said to Olympics.com a few weeks before competition.

“I don’t know my physical condition right now… [I am] stressed… I am super scared.”.

Vio was just 11 when she contracted meningitis. Doctors saved her life but amputated both legs at her knees and her forearms. She was an avid fencer before the condition and only took eight months away from the sport competitively following the procedure.

This time she’s been away for more than a year.

“The moment in which I am going to put down the helmet and I am going to fence – that is the moment in which I am going to put out all my stress… But until that moment – I don’t know how it’s going to be.”

Bebe Vio: Pool round domination at Tokyo 2020

She blasted through her first opponent in eight seconds. Georgia’s Irma Khetsuriani, who is ranked sixth in the world, was dispatched with ease. The moment was here, and it looked to be going well.

Her next two opponents were also dismantled with an impressive efficiency. Japan’s ABE Chrisato lasted 3 seconds with world number three Ludmila Vasileva of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) making it to the 10s mark. They both lost 5-0.

Vio advanced to the knockout stages undefeated. Two 5-1 wins over Brazil’s Monica Santos and Rong Xiao of China were followed by a final 5-2 victory against Hong Kong’s Yuen Ping Chung.

Bebe Vio: Matt Stutzman’s idol

Vio’s emotional style and commitment to complete honesty means she’s a great person to follow on social media.

It’s also meant she’s attracted fans within other Paralympic disciplines. USA’s Matt Stutzman fires arrows with his feet and is a silver Paralympic medallist in archery. He co-starred with Bebe in the popular Netflix documentary ‘Rising Phoenix’. She called Stutzman her ’idol’ on an Instagram story prior to his competition in Tokyo.

“This is crazy because she's my idol… she has the most addictive personality…

“I wish we lived close together because I would train with her and hang out with her all the time because she's amazing.”

Bebe Vio: Wheelchair Fencing background

Adapted fencing requires competitors to have their wheelchairs attached to the ground. It leads to an intense fight with a visually impressive demonstration of coordination, mobility, and reflexes . It’s easy to forget that Vio is fighting with no hands.

The first fencer to score five hits at the pool stage wins. The knockout rounds are expanded with the fencer who scores 15 hits declared the winner.

Bebe blazed her way through Georgia’s Irma Khetsuriani, for the second time of the day, to make her way to the semis with a 15-6 win.

“My dream is trying to help someone else to understand not how to be happy, but how happy you could be.” Bebe Vio to Olympics.com

Irina Mishurova, who is representing the RPC, was also dispatched with ease 15-4 to guarantee Vio at least silver. She allowed herself a brief celebration with some supporters in the crowd ahead of her gold medal bout against the same final opponent as Rio 2016: Jingjing Zhou of China.

The final was tense with Zhou scoring the first point. But Vio recovered and eventually pulled away to the win 15-9.

"It was great. Really emotional. It was a beautiful moment that will live forever," her brother Nicolo said to Tokyo 2020. "The family is very important for everybody. We are always together with our mind, because we live pretty far away, but we are very good team."

Italy are in action again on 29 August in the team event of wheelchair fencing.

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A Gold Medalist With No Arms

Feb 15, 2018 | 831 videos video by lorena alvarado.

Beatrice Vio cultivated a passion for fencing when she was five years old. At 11, she contracted severe meningitis. In the hospital, the doctors gave her an unimaginable choice: Keep her limbs and risk death, or amputate all four to ensure survival. She chose life. Now, Vio is a Paralympic champion and the only fencer in the world who competes without arms or legs.

“My strength lies in not thinking about my body and using what I have left to the fullest,” Vio says in Lorena Alvarado ’s short documentary, Beatrice. The film tells the Italian fencer’s inspiring story, from diagnosis to grueling rehabilitation to winning a gold medal in Rio in 2016. Although Vio competes with prosthetics, she has come to accept them as part of her body. “When I grab the sword, I feel my fingers gripping the handle,” she says in the film. “I feel I do the movements with my hand, but I actually do them with my elbow. I don’t think about the movements; I feel them. It’s as if the metal blade was my skin, and the grip, my hand.”

“Beatrice’s fearlessness and optimism are supernatural,” Alvarado told The Atlantic . “I’ve never met someone so confident and excited about being alive.”

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected].

Author: Emily Buder

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Interview with Bebe Vio

• by Chiara Barzini

At the John Cabot American University in Rome, there’s a girl prodigy called Bebe Vio who grew up incognito. But as well as being a university student, this 21-year-old was also a paralympic gold medal winner in Rio in 2016, world champion in 2015 and 2017, a winner of three gold medals at the European Championships (2014/’16/’18), a presenter of the TV show “La vita è una figata!” (2017), an ambassador for Dior, and the superhero of a fantasy novel by Pierdomenico Baccalario titled “BeBlade. Bebe Vio e la sua squadra” (Piemme, 2018). When she enters a room, she radiates such strength that even the plants seem to perk up around her.

Why did you decide to go to an American university in Rome?

I learnt English before enrolling and now I’m happy to be immersed in such an international atmosphere and studying in this language, detached from everything else. First they put me in a house with a girl from Bolivia, one from Madagascar and another from Bulgaria who knew nothing about me. When I showed up they asked me, “What kind of legs have you got?” Since they’re young, and knowing you’re going to be living together, they don’t worry about asking questions. I like this way of being open and direct. I introduced myself to the girls as Beatrice. They didn’t know me as Bebe. Now they call me B. because they can’t manage the Italian pronunciation of Beatrice. So on one hand I’m B., and on the other I’m Bebe. In their eyes I go to the gym and I often travel, but they don’t know about the competitions.

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by Francesca Marani

A day to dream

They wonder why I miss classes to go on so many trips. It’s a nice way to live, in two completely different worlds.

Is it difficult to keep your superhero identity secret?

They’re starting to suss me out. When we go out to dinner, people stop me or ask to take a photo with me. When it happened twice in one evening, the girls gave me a funny look. After a month they became suspicious and found me on Instagram! One evening they said, “You didn’t tell us you went to dinner with Obama!”

Is there a conflict between sport and these two lives of yours?

Not all my teachers accept that I have to skip lessons. We were competing in the European Championships last week and before that we were in training – nine or ten hours a day between Pisa and Rome. There wasn’t time for lessons or studying. And I’m doing a demanding course at the moment, too: “Race, Gender and Society”. The first lecture was about the chauvinistic approach in cinema and art. I got worked up straight away.

You’ve blossomed at a time when these issues are being overturned, in both pop culture and sport. I’m also thinking of the power of Serena Williams’s statement at the US Open (when she called the umpire Carlos Ramos sexist, ed.). You’re a role model for lots of girls, too.

I’ve always had female examples to follow. My mother is an idol of mine, and I’ve met plenty of women whom I admire in the working environment. For everyone Maria Grazia Chiuri is the boss of bosses, but for me she’s a “chilled-out aunt”. She’s the first woman at the helm of Dior in a world full of discrimination, and she’s the first Italian in a world of people who are incredibly French. She’s doing amazing things… like the T-shirt that said “We should all be feminists”. Now in her latest collection she opened with a precise statement: “C’est NON, NON, NON et NON!” She has revolutionised the brand.

This is your first time in Vogue Italia. What is it about fashion that attracts you, and how did you come to it?

The fateful encounter was when I met Maria Grazia. She wanted three female fencers (Bebe, Arianna Errigo and Rossella Fiamingo, ed.) to be present for her S/S 2017 runway to represent fighting women who were also elegant. She introduced fencing to fashion, where the sport wasn’t seen favourably. We’ve got a slightly masculine way of behaving. I’m not a prototype of beauty, but I wear short skirts anyway to show my prosthetic legs. So I show myself off, and with all my persistence in talks and shows, now it’s the others who ask me to do it. There’s a certain beauty in this. Things are changing. Sponsors look for people with disabilities because they want to communicate their strength. I’m totally thrilled; it’s tiring but great. Having said that, I showed up late to the last fashion show and I was left outside. They gave me a proper telling-off.

What do you like most about this interweaving of genres?

It’s fun. My constant passions are fencing, university and the association (called art4sport, a non-profit organisation inspired by Bebe’s story that sees sport as a form of therapy for the physical and psychological rehabilitation of young people with artificial limbs, ed.), and I take the rest as experimentation. My whole family is helping me. My dad is a superhero. My mum takes care of me, my brother and my sister, along with the house and our sick dog, and she comes to my events. We have fun together and the association is doing awesomely.

How do you experience the world of communication and social media? Has your way of communicating changed too?

I was born in ’97. At first I didn’t want Facebook or Instagram. My sister is five years younger than me and she grew up with it. My nine-year-old cousin was born with an iPad in her hands, and she uses my Instagram account to like footballers. Everything is changing so quickly. I have fun but I know that even if you have lots of followers, it doesn’t mean you’ve made it in life. I don’t live attached to my mobile phone. I’m aware of its positive and negative aspects, and I also read the haters who have written pages against me. But I’ve realised how to shoulder it, because I know that’s not the real world. People who write certain things don’t say it to your face in the real world, even if I’d prefer it.

Vogue Italia, November 2018, n.819, pag. 67

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Persol, il design degli occhiali da sole pieghevoli

• Born March 4 , 1997 · Venice, Veneto, Italy
• Birth name Beatrice Maria Adelaide Marzia Vio
• Height 5′ 1″ (1.55 m)
• Beatrice "Bebe" Vio was born in Venice. At the age of 6 she started practicing fencing. On November 20th, 2008, at the age of 11, she was struck by a fulminant meningitis which caused an extensive infection, with annexed necrosis to forearms and legs, which required amputation. But thanks to a custom-made prosthesis, she was able to continue the practice of the sport, becoming a world-wide Paralympic champion. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Lorenz-pictures

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Bebe Vio makes history with second Paralympic gold medal in wheelchair fencing

Five years after the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games gold medal bout of the women's foil individual category B, it was time for the Makuhari Messe Hall to see the same outcome this Saturday, with Italy's Beatrice Maria Vio retaining her title against Chinese Zhou Jingjing, a three-time Paralympic champion. The 24-year-old Italian defeated her opponent 15-9 in the final.

Besides the two gold medals, she won three consecutive world championships titles in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

"It was so hard because the measure was different between the other matches we did together before. It was the same final as in Rio (2016 Paralympic Games), but today was a completely different kind of match, with different techniques," said Bebe Vio to the Olympic Information Services (OIS).

"We've fenced each other quite a lot, but today was so hard, surely the hardest match that I've ever had with her," she added.

The bronze medal match ended with the victory of Ludmila Vasileva, from the Russian Paralympic Committee, over China's Xiao Rong, 15-12.

The final of the men's category B featured the two most dominant foilists at the past three Paralympic Games. In an all-Chinese battle, Feng Yanke retained his 2016 title after defeating 2008 and 2012 Paralympic champion Hu Daoliang in a tight 15-14. British Dimitri Coutya cruised past Albert Kamalov, from the Russian Paralympic Committee, 15-2, and ended with the bronze. 

China collected two other gold medals on the day, thanks to Games debutant Gu Haiyan in the women's category A, against Ukraine's Nataliia Morkvych, and Sun Gang in the men's category A, beating Hungary's Richard Osvath 15-7. 

Rong Jing won bronze in the women's category A, while Nikita Nagaev, from the Russian Paralympic Committee, was the bronze medallist in the men's category A event.

The Tokyo 2020 wheelchair fencing competition ends tomorrow, with the women's and men's team foil competitions. 

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If it seems impossible, then it can be done!

On guard ready... to you, wembrace game 2022.

Broken prosthesis

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I can do anything I want to do.

It is important to be able to make others understand that your weakness can become the one you are most proud of., my dream is to unify all sports, olympic and paralympic, and have the important competitions run at the same time., io posso fare tutto quello che io voglio fare, e’ importante riuscire a far capire agli altri che il tuo punto debole può diventare quello di cui vai più fiero., il mio sogno è quello di unificare tutti gli sport, olimpici e paralimpici, e fare in modo che le gare importanti vengano disputate in contemporanea..

art4sport ONLUS Association believes in sport as a therapy for the physical and psychological recovery of children and young people with prosthetic limbs.

Bebe Vio Academy

The Bebe Vio Academy is an inclusive program that aims to promote Paralympic sport. The program focuses on Bebe’s vision of making sport accessible to all… Because sport is a means of change and integration!

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JOIN BEBE'S CAUSE art4sport ONLUS Association Via G. Matteotti 8/C - 31021 Mogliano Veneto (TV) [email protected] Telephone: 041 59.00.219 | Mobile: 331 77.17.468

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