Stefano Baldini

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Stefano Baldini at the 2008 London Marathon

Stefano Baldini (* 25. May 1971 in Castelnovo di Sotto ) is a retired Italian long-distance runner and Olympic champion in the marathon .

Career

At the European Championships in Helsinki in 1994 he came in 20th place over 10,000 meters and at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg in 18th place. In his debut over the 42.195 km distance, he finished sixth in the Venice Marathon that same year . The following year he reached the semifinals at the Olympic Games in Atlanta over 5000 meters and finished 18th over 10,000 meters. He had his first major international success in the same year when he won the title at the World Half Marathon Championships in Palma .

In 1997 he won the Roma - Ostia race . As second in the London Marathon , he set an Italian record with 2:07:57 h. At the 10,000-meter run at the World Championships in Athens and at the World Half Marathon Championships in Košice , he was ninth, and then third at the New York City Marathon .

The following year he won the Rome Marathon and the European Championships in Budapest . At world championships he won bronze in marathons twice: 2001 in Edmonton and 2003 in Paris / Saint-Denis . He also won the Madrid Millennium Marathon in 2001 , was sixth in 2000 and 2002 and second again in London in 2003, second in the Turin Marathon in 2001, fifth in New York City in 2001 and 2002 and fourth in the 10,000 m in the 2002 European Championships in Munich .

His greatest triumph, however, was winning the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , for which he qualified with fourth place in London. Four years earlier, Baldini had to give up injured in the marathon of the Olympic Games in Sydney . The run from marathon to Athens went down in Olympic history mainly because the leading Brazilian Vanderlei de Lima was pushed off the track by the religious fanatic Cornelius Horan , thereby losing valuable time and energy and a little later being overtaken by Stefano Baldini could. Baldini crossed the finish line first, but a little later de Lima was celebrated as a bronze medalist like the winner. However, it should be noted that Vanderlei de Lima had already lost more than a minute of his lead by the time of the incident. So it remains doubtful whether de Lima would have won without this incident.

In 2005 Baldini was fifth in London, but had to give up at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki after 35 kilometers due to cramps. In 2006 he came in fifth again in London and improved his Italian record to 2:07:22 h. At the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg , he again won marathon gold. In 2007 he finished fourth in New York City.

In 2008 he was each twelfth at the London Marathon and the Olympic Games in Beijing . After he had actually already finished his career, he tried to defend his title at the 2010 European Championships , but gave up halfway through the route. In autumn he announced his final retirement from competitive sports and said goodbye to his fans with a lap of honor at the Giro al Sas in Trento , which he had won three times.

He was six times national champion over 10,000 meters (1993–1996, 2001, 2002) and in the half marathon (1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2009).

Stefano Baldini is 1.76 m tall and has a competition weight of 58 kg. He is the eighth of eleven children from a farming family in the province of Reggio Emilia . Until 1992 he was trained by Emilio Benati, then by Luciano Gigliotti, who had already looked after Gelindo Bordin , the 1988 Olympic champion. Baldini's wife Virna De Angeli is the Italian record holder over 400 m , but the couple, who have a daughter, have now separated.

Personal bests

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ IAAF: Baldini wins Madrid Marathon and spoils Spanish farewell party . October 28, 2001
  2. ^ IAAF: Baldini - Medals rather than fast times matter ( Memento from October 22, 2004 in the Internet Archive ). October 22, 2004
  3. ^ IAAF: Consistency brings ultimate Olympic reward for Baldini ( Memento of March 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). August 29, 2004
  4. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: The last gold of the games goes to Stefano Baldini . August 29, 2004
  5. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Stefano Baldini now also European Champion . August 13, 2006
  6. ↑ Leichtathletik.de: Stefano Baldini - A long career ends . October 9, 2010
  7. ^ IAAF: Baldini, Italian Marathon legend, retires - A look back ( Memento of October 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). October 11, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Baldini, Stefano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian long-distance runner and Olympic marathon champion
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Castelnovo di Sotto