Antonio HARO OLIVA

Antonio Haro competed at four Olympic Games in fencing for Mexico – from 1932-52. He made the individual sabre final in 1948 and in 1955 won a gold medal in individual sabre at the Pan American Games. A career military officer, Haro served as the Mexican military attaché to the French government and while there, he met a French model, Nadia Boudesoque, who also fenced. They later married with Boudesoque competing in fencing at the 1948 Olympics for Mexico. His wife, who took the stage name Nadia Haro Oliva, became an actress, acting in multiple Mexican films in the 1950s and 60s.

Antonio Haro became a film producer, screenwriter, and director and built and owned the Harlequin Theatre Company. During World War II Haro and the Mexican government had been a supporter of Spanish President Manuel Azaña who was overthrown by the Socialists and Haro helped Azaña escape to France where he lived in exile under the Vichy regime.