Alessandro Andrei

Alessandro Andrei (born January 3, 1959 in Florence ) is a former Italian shot putter and Olympic champion .

Career

Until Olympic victory (1977-1984)

Alessandro Andrei made his first international appearance in 1977 when he finished ninth in the shot put at the European Junior Championships. In 1981 came fourth place at the European Indoor Championships with 19.34 meters. A year later he was fifth in the hall with 19.49 meters, outdoors he was tenth at the European Championships with 19.28 meters. In 1983 at the first World Championships in Helsinki , he finished 7th with 20.07 meters.

The year 1984 began for Andrei by winning the bronze medal at the European Indoor Championships. With 20.32 meters he was only one centimeter behind the second-placed Swiss Werner Günthör , the winner was Jānis Bojārs from the Soviet Union with 20.84 meters. After the Olympic boycott of the Eastern Bloc caused some of the strongest shot putters to fail at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the shot putters from the United States were generally considered to be the favorites for the Olympic victory. With his series (20.41-20.97-21.26-20.55-20.92-20.96), Alessandro Andrei took the lead in the third attempt and won gold in front of the three Americans Mike Carter (21 , 09), Dave Laut (20.97) and August Wolf (20.93). Far behind came in 5th place Werner Günthör with 20.28.

After the Olympic victory (1985-1992)

At the European Championships in 1986 Andrei took fourth place with 20.73 meters, one centimeter behind Udo Beyer from the GDR, gold went to Günthör with 22.22 meters ahead of Ulf Timmermann (also GDR) with 21.84 meters.

Probably the greatest day in Alessandro Andrei's career was August 12, 1987. By this day Andrei had improved the Italian shot put record 16 times up to 22.17 meters, Udo Beyer's world record was 22.64 meters. Now at the meeting in Viareggio he managed by far the best series of his career (22.19 - 22.37 - 22.72 - 22.84 - 22.91 - 22.74). Three world records and five Italian national records in one competition naturally sparked rumors that something might be wrong. Above all, it was suspected that the shot put ring was too high, resulting in a greater gradient between the ring and the kick sector than allowed by the rules. But all three world records (and of course all national records) were recognized. Alessandro Andrei never hit over 22 meters again after this competition. Second in the world record competition was a Leonardo Lazzeri with 17.37 meters.

Two and a half weeks after the three world records, the world championships took place in Rome . Werner Günthör won with 22.23 meters ahead of Andrei with 21.88 meters. At the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988 Andrei competed as defending champion, but no longer as a world record holder, after Ulf Timmermann had outbid him on May 22, 1988 with 23.06 meters. Timmermann then won ahead of Randy Barnes (USA) and Werner Günthör. Andrei finished seventh with 20.36 meters.

Andrei also finished seventh at the 1989 World Indoor Championships with 19.77 meters. A fifth place with 19.44 meters at the European Indoor Championships in 1990 and a sixth place two years later with 19.51 meters were his last two finals at international championships. At the 1991 World Championships (12th place with 18.73) and the 1992 Olympic Games (11th place with 19.62), he was no longer able to advance into the final battle.

Alessandro Andrei was Italian shot put champion 1983–1986 and 1989–1992. He is 1.91 m tall and weighed 118 kg at competition times.

literature

• Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. Shot put / discus throw. Grevenbroich 2000
• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 1994. London 1994, ISBN 1-873-05721-0
• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Fields Athletics. Berlin 1999 (published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV )

Web links

• Alessandro Andrei in the database of World Athletics (English)