Valerio Arri

athletics
bronze	1920	marathon

Valeriano Pompeo Maurizio "Murissi" Arri , known as Valerio Arri (born June 22, 1892 in Portacomaro ( Asti province ), Italy , † July 2, 1970 ) was an Italian athlete and a marathon medalist at the Olympic Games .

Valerio Arri first appeared in sport in 1912 at the 18 km run from Nice to Monaco, which has been held exclusively for French and Italian athletes since 1905 , where he finished 9th. When he took part in 1913, it was only 11th. He celebrated his first known victories in 1917 in cross-country races over approx. 7 km, at that time as a member of the US Ausonia in La Spezia . In 1918 he moved to the US Barriera di Nizza in Turin and won a road race on a turning point route from Turin to Moncalieri over 12 km. But he was also able to convince on shorter distances, for example in 1918 he became champion of the Piedmont region in the 5000 meter run .

The sporting breakthrough came for Arri in 1919. When the Turin Marathon was held for the first time , he crossed the finish line as the winner in 2: 40: 47.6 hours on the 42.75 km long route. A few months later, Arri also won the title of Italian marathon champion in Milan over a distance of 48 km with 3:13:41 hours.

These successes of Valerio Arri helped him to take part in the marathon at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp . In the 42.75 km longest ever run at the Olympic Games, Arri showed a clever tactical performance. So he was not impressed by the enormous speed of the runners in the lead and ran his own race in the area of ​​9th place. Only in the last 5 km did he increase his running speed, while the runners in front of him became weaker. By the time he had crossed the finish line, he was able to overtake 6 competitors and finally achieved 3rd place and the bronze medal. Nevertheless, Arri was annoyed, because he still felt so fresh at the finish that he believed he would have been able to fight for victory. To prove it, he hit three handstand rollovers in front of the stadium grandstand , which are said to have inspired the audience and Pierre de Coubertin who was present .

After the Olympic Games, there were no further sporting successes. Arri changes clubs frequently. At the Turin Marathon he was 4th in 1921 and 3rd in 1923.

In 1996, the organizers awarded the Premio Valerio Arri in honor of the first winner of the Turin Marathon , which in the following years became an important award in Italian athletics. The award is given annually to an athlete in the country who has made a special contribution to the national sport.

The placements at the Olympic Games for Valerio Arri:

• VII. Olympic Games 1920, Antwerp
  • Marathon run - BRONZE in 2: 36: 32.8 h (gold to Hannes Kolehmainen , FIN with 2: 32: 35.8 h; silver to Jüri Lossmann , EST with 2: 32: 48.6 h)

Web links

Commons : Valerio Arri  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Valerio Arri in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )