Bebe Vio bnamed 'Italian of the year'

(ANSA) - Rome, December 28 - 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.