From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Argentina
Men's fencing
Bronze	1928 Amsterdam	Team foil

Carmelo Félix Camet (October 29, 1904 – July 22, 2007) was an Argentine fencer who competed in the Olympic games in 1928. He was the son of Francisco Carmelo Camet, a fencer at the 1900 Summer Olympics who is sometimes considered to be Argentina's first participant at the Olympics. Trained as a lawyer, Carmelo Camet gained his training and love for fencing at an early age from his father. By the 1920s he had already won several tournaments and, in 1926, he won the Argentine national fencing championship.

Although Camet successfully completed all of the trials required of him by the nascent Argentine Olympic Committee, he did not attend the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, although his name was on the official register as a non-participant. After taking a brief break to finish his law degree, he was part of the Argentine fencing delegation sent to the 1928 Summer Olympics. There, as the substitute on the foil team foil, he won a bronze medal, Argentine's only medal in that sport as of 2008. Although he sat out the first two matches with Norway and Spain, he replaced Héctor Lucchetti during the matches against Belgium and all subsequent events. At the time of his death in 2007, in Buenos Aires, Camet was believed to be the world's oldest living Olympic competitor.

Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Olympic career 3 Later life 4 References

[edit]Early life

Carmelo Camet was born on October 29, 1904, the son of Francisco Carmelo Camet, a fencer at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, and Clara Isa.^[1] The elder Camet, though officially an athlete from France, is considered by some to be Argentina's first Olympic participant. This is disputed, however, by those who claim that Horatio Torromé should hold this title as the first official Argentine representative.^[2] Carmelo had one brother, Carlos Ernesto Camet, who pursued a political career. Carlos, who served as a deputy to the national congress, was, like the rest of his family, supportive of the Radical Civil Union, an Argentine political reform party formed in the 1890s.^[1]

Although trained as a lawyer, Carmelo began fencing at an early age, beginning in the 1910s, at the behest of his father and, much like his father, specialized in épée, while also being proficient at fleuret. In 1918 he came in first place in the former category and second in the latter at a competition, organized by the city of Buenos Aires. In the next two years, he finished at the top in both events and became nationally known. In 1921 the Argentine Fencing Federation was founded and, in 1922, the organization sent him to represent Argentina in the Olimpiados Latinamericanos, a celebration overseen by the International Olympic Committee to celebrate the centenary of Brazil's declaration of independence. His native country won first place in the épée, fleuret and sabre events in the host city of Rio de Janeiro. At the age of 17, he was one of the youngest competitors to represent his country at these games.^[1]

[edit]Olympic career

The Argentine Fencing Committee had great difficulty in organizing a team to attend the 1924 Summer Olympics. Despite the establishment of the Argentin