Vassiliki Vougiouka

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Vassiliki Vougiouka, often called Vaso, is a Greek sabre fencer born on June 20, 1986 in Cholargos, near Athens. She competes for Greece, fences right-handed, and has represented Olympiacos CFP. Vougiouka started fencing at 14, first in foil and switching to sabre in 2005.

Her career highlights include Greece’s first World Cup gold in Budapest in 2010. In the 2011–12 season she won gold at the London World Cup and bronze at the Tianjin Grand Prix. She won silver at the European Championships in Legnano in 2012. At the 2012 London Olympics she reached the quarterfinals and finished fifth after breaking two front teeth in a mask collision during her T16 bout; she then lost to Kim Ji-yeon in the quarterfinals. She finished the season ranked world No. 5 and was named Greece’s Best Female Athlete of 2012.

In 2012–13 Vougiouka won bronze at Antalya and Moscow and took another silver at the Zagreb European Championships, again losing the final to Olha Kharlan. At the 2013 World Championships in Budapest she reached the quarterfinals, losing to Irene Vecchi. In 2013–14 she won bronze at Bolzano and silver at Moscow, and bronze at the European Championships in Strasbourg after a semifinal loss to Yekaterina Dyachenko; she reached the quarterfinals at the World Championships in Kazan and finished the season as world No. 4.

Vougiouka studied dentistry at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her cousin is basketball player Ian Vougioukas. She also competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.