Call time is set at 10.30am. Despite Rome's legendary traffic, at 10.30 sharp Bebe Vio enters. She's the kind of person who smiles with her eyes – huge, deep blue eyes. She's got a ‘Come on, let's do it!’ attitude that permeates the room. “Just make sure you don't cover the scars” is her only recommendation on set for the shoot. “So many clothes. If it was up to me, I'd be happy with a tank top and leggings.” The glamour of fashion doesn't concern her, yet she won't stop until the job's done. From one shot to the next, it's hard to keep up with her rhythm.
Vio fell in love with fencing as a kid; by the age of five she was already dreaming of the Olympics. Then she contracted severe meningitis. She miraculously survived, but doctors had to amputate her legs at the knee and both of her forearms. It was 2008; she was 11. You would think, this is it. Instead, she was like, “Well, I can't dream of the Olympics any more, but I can dream of the Paralympics.” And so her story began.
Vio has got such a joyful vibe, you almost wonder if it's real – but five minutes in the Paralympic champion athlete's company is enough to know she would never do or say a single thing that isn't her authentic self. You cannot make Bebe Vio do anything she doesn't want to do and, more importantly, you can't keep Vio from doing anything she wants to do. At the end of the day, she's still that kid who, when told it would be impossible to get a selfie with Barack Obama, simply replied, “Sorry, Mr President, I don't know the meaning of that word,” and got him to take the shot.
At the 2012 London Paralympics, despite being too young to compete, she was chosen as a torchbearer after more than 1,000 people signed a petition to the International Paralympic Committee to support her candidacy. Italy's girl prodigy kept giving security a hard time as she tried to run, despite being told to walk. Now, 64 medals – including golds from the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics – and 27 broken prostheses later, Vio is probably one of the greatest wheelchair fencers we have ever seen.
Vio's achievements don't end there. Through her non-profit art4sport and the Bebe Vio Academy – an inclusive programme supported by Nike that focuses on making sport accessible to all – she's been working tirelessly to promote the practice of Paralympic sport. Thanks to her popularity, she is actually influencing the culture around disability, reshaping the mentality around the subject. As we speak, I notice Vio doesn't really use the pronoun ‘I’; everything is a ‘We’. Vio is all about getting there together.
It seems like life is pretty hectic for you right now. You must be exhausted.
Yes, but it's standard pre-Olympics routine. We took
