Paralympian champion Vio threatened with rape on FB (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, February 21 - A Facebook page on Tuesday threatened Paralympian fencing champ Bebe Vio with sexual violence, the Codacons consumer protection group said, adding it would start legal action in the case. The page was swiftly removed. Viola said she was "bitter and disappointed" at the attack, whose authors she said she had reported to the police. "I feel bitter," Vio told ANSA, "because I've been giving all myself and fighting for others for years, I'm disappointed because people who use Internet to insult others make me sad". Viola said there should be "swift and strong punishment" in such cases.
    Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana named Rio 2016 Paralympic gold medallist Vio as "Italian of the year" last 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.
    Last year she also got the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.