Nathalie Moellhausen

Nathalie Moellhausen
File:Nathalie Moellhausen fencingmob 2014-09-07 n01.jpg
Personal information
Born	(1985-12-01) 1 December 1985 Milan, Italy
Weapon(s)	Épée
Hand	right-handed
Height
Weight	64 kg (141 lb; 10.1 st)
Personal coach(es)	Daniel Levavasseur, Laura Flessel-Colovic
FIE Ranking	current ranking
Medal record Women's épée Representing Italy World Championships 2009 Antalya Team 2010 Paris Individual 2011 Catania Team European Championships 2007 Ghent Team 2009 Leipzig Team 2011 Sheffield Individual Representing Brazil Pan American Games 2015 Toronto Individual 2015 Toronto Team Pan American Championships 2015 Santiago Individual

Nathalie Moellhausen (born 1 December 1985) is an Italo-Brazilian épée fencer, team World champion in 2009 and team European champion in 2007 for Italy. She now represents Brazil.

Career

Moellhausen was born in Milan from an Italian-German father and an Italo-Brazilian mother, stylist Valeria Ferlini–she holds dual citizenship. She began fencing at the age of five at her school, then at CS Mangiarotti, where she trained under Nicola Pomarnasky, then Sandro Resegotti. She won in 2004 a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in Plovdiv.

At the age of 18 she joined C.S. Aeronautica Militare, the sport section of the Italian Air Force, and moved to Paris to be coached by Daniel Levavasseur, who was training Laura Flessel at the time. The 2008–09 season saw her climb her first World Cup podium with a bronze medal in the Doha Grand Prix. It was followed by bronzes in Tauberbischofsheim and Budapest, silver in the Montreal World Cup and gold in the Lobnya World Cup. In the 2009 World Championships in Antalya she was stopped in the round of 32, but in the team event she conquered Italy's first gold in women's épée along with Bianca Del Carretto, Francesca Quondamcarlo and Cristiana Cascioli. Moellhausen finished the season No.8 in world rankings, her personal best as of 2014.

In the 2009–10 season Moellhausen won a silver medal in the Rome Grand Prix. In the World Championships at Paris, she made her way to the semifinals where she was defeated by Emese Szász of Hungary and came away with the bronze medal. In the team event Italy were overcome by Estonia in the table of 16 and could not defend their title.

Moellhausen's pre-Olympic season was plagued by a string of injuries. She however won the bronze medal in the 2011 European Championships in Sheffield after being defeated in the semifinal by Switzerland's Tiffany Géroudet. In the World Championships in Catania, she fell in the table of 32 to South Korea's Jung Hyo-jung. In the team event, Italy reached the semi-finals where they were defeated by China. They met Germany in the small final and prevailed 45–33 to win the bronze medal.

Moellhausen was selected for the 2012 Summer Olympics only as a reserve for the team. Italy was defeated in the quarter-finals by the United States and earned no medal. After the Games Moellhausen took a break in her sport career and assumed the artistic direction of the 2013 centenary gala of the International Fencing Federation at the Grand Palais in Paris.

She announced in early 2014 her decision to come back to competition, this time under the Brazilian flag. She explained that fencing for Brazil, which has no other female épée fencer in the Top 100, allows her to aim for a qualification to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro while pursuing a professional career. She went back training under Levavasseur and Laura Flessel. She was eliminated in the first round in her two first competitions since the 2012 Olympics, the Barcelona Grand Prix and the Rio World Cup, but she reached the quarter-finals in the Pan American Championships. In the 2014 World Championships in Kazan she was knocked out in the first round by Italy's Rossella Fiamingo, who would eventually win the gold medal.

External links

• Profile at the European Fencing Confederation
• Profile at the Italian National Olympic Committee