Italy currently sits second in the medal count through a few hours at London 2012 and it’s just a matter of time before they leap into first temporarily after dominating performances in the individual foil competition from three of their fencers.

The Bronze medal match is set to get underway between Valentina Vezzali of Italy and Hyun Hee Nam of South Korea. Obviously a 50/50 chance for Italy to win a bronze medal, and if you’re banking on experience winning a medal Vezzali is your favourite. She has five Olympic gold medals in her trophy case and is a 13 time world champion in the discipline.

The Gold medal will be up for grabs between two Italian fencers — Elisa Di Francisca and Arianna Errigo. Italy will be guaranteed two medals, it’s just a matter of who takes which. Italy is up to four medals thus far.

If the first day is any indication of how the final medal count is going to shake down — though you can expect the USA to kick it up a notch — the Italian medal count may very well be among the leaders.

A fencing sweep would help that immensely.