Brigitte LATRILLE-GAUDIN

Brigitte Gaudin was World Junior Champion in the foil in 1978. She later won three Olympic gold medals in team foil for France, in 1976, 1980, and 1984. Outside of fencing she initially worked for over 15 years as a flight attendant. In 1993 she bought the company, Ricarimpex, a company which specializes in the breeding and distribution of leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) for medical uses. Leeches are used medically in orthopaedics and plastic surgery after microsurgical and replantation procedures, because they secrete a powerful anti-coagulant, hirudin, that prevents clotting of repaired small blood vessels. After buying the company, it was said of Latrille-Gaudin that she was so devoted to it that she never went on holiday for over 20 years.