Catholic weekly Famiglia
Cristiana on Wednesday announced it has named Rio 2016
Paralympic gold medallist Bebe Vio as "Italian of the year" over
her achievements and the values she has represented.
The magazine's editor-in-chief Antonio Rizzolo said Vio was
chosen for the seventh edition of the award "for her explosive
vitality, for her courage and even her taste in accepting the
challenges life has set before her" and for revolutionizing "any
preconceived idea on disability".
Vio, 19, won the gold medal in the wheelchair fencing
individual foil category in Rio.
In 2008, Vio contracted meningitis B.
Doctors were able to save her life but had to amputate all
four limbs.
She went back to fencing after her recovery and is the only
wheelchair fencer to currently compete with no arms and no legs.
In October, she joined an Italian delegation headed by then
Premier Matteo Renzi for a State dinner with US President Barack
Obama.
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