Paola Pezzo

Paola Pezzo

Paola Pezzo 2009
To person
Date of birth	8th January 1969 (age 51)
nation	Italy
discipline	Mountain bike , road , cyclocross
Team (s)
1989-1991 1992	Team Bianchi Team Gary Fisher
Most important successes
Olympic games 1996 - Cross Country 2000 - Cross Country World championships 1993 - Cross Country 1997 - Cross Country European championships 1994 - Cross Country 1996 - Cross Country 1999 - Cross Country World cup 1997 Cross Country
Last updated: June 7, 2020

Paola Pezzo (born January 8, 1969 in Bosco Chiesanuova ) is a former Italian mountain biker in the cross country discipline . With two Olympic victories and two world championships, she is one of the most successful female drivers. To this day, she is the only one who has become an Olympic champion, world champion and overall winner of the World Cup.

Athletic career

Pezzo was initially a cross-country skier , but was not very successful in this sport and switched to mountain biking in 1989. From 1989 she was a professional and drove for the Bianchi team. In 1992 she moved to the Gary Fisher team. Completely surprisingly, Pezzo won the gold medal at the 1993 World Championships in Métabief . However, she confirmed this success as the winner of the European Championships in 1994 and 1996.

In the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta the discipline Cross Country was among the first time to the program. Even though she fell early in the race and scraped her knee, she managed to catch up with the front. She was able to leave the other riders behind from the halfway point of the race and finally achieved her first Olympic victory by a large margin. She was similarly successful the following year: In addition to winning the gold medal at the 1997 World Championships in Château-d'Oex , she also won the overall World Cup.

In Åre Pezzo won the bronze medal in the individual race and in the relay at the World Championships in 1999 , plus a third European title. At the World Championships in 2000 in the Sierra Nevada , she was again third. Before the race at the 2000 Summer Olympics , she was considered a favorite. Although she got involved in a collision with the so far leading Spaniard Margarita Fullana in the final round , she was able to break away and celebrate her second Olympic victory.

Because of the birth of her first son, she stayed away from racing from 2001 to 2004. She took part in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , but had to give up the race. In 2006/07 she took another baby break and made a second comeback in May 2008.

With a height of 178 cm, her competition weight was 62 kg. During her career she won a total of 38 races.

Honors

• Paola Pezzo was honored in 1999 with the induction into the Hall of Fame of the European cycling association Union Européenne de Cyclisme .
• In 2000 she received the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic .

successes

• 1993: Gold Medal World Championship (Individual)
• 1994: Gold medal European championship
• 1996: Gold medal Summer Olympics
• 1996: Gold medal European championship
• 1997: Gold Medal World Championship (Individual)
• 1997: Overall victory in the Mountain Bike World Cup
• 1999: Bronze medal world championship (individual and relay)
• 1999: Gold medal European championship
• 2000: Gold medal Summer Olympics
• 2000: bronze medal world championship (individual)

Web links

• Paola Pezzo in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Paola Pezzo in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Portrait on the website of the IOC
• Pezzo's entry into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paola PEZZO biography