Gennaro Di Napoli (born 5 March 1968) is an Italian former middle distance runner.
He won 13 medals at the
International athletics competitions
In the sport of athletics, international competitions between national teams can be distinguished into four main types:
* Multi-sport events, commonly referred to as games, where athletics events form part of a wider sporting programme
* World cha ...
, 10 of these at senior level.
Biography
Di Napoli was born in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
but moved early in his life to
Lombardy
Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...
, in northern
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. He excelled in the distances from 800 to 3,000 meters. He won the silver medal at the
European Championships
The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...
in Split 1990 over
1500 metres
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...
. He missed out on a medal at the
World Championships 1991.
In 1992 Di Napoli scored a sensational victory over the world champion
Noureddine Morceli
Noureddine Morceli ( ar, نور الدين مرسلي, ''Nūr ud-Dīn Mursilī''; born February 28, 1970) is a retired Algerian middle-distance runner. He was the winner of the 1500 metres at the 1996 Summer Olympics and won three straight gold me ...
from Algeria at the Golden Gala meeting in Rome. However, he got injured two weeks before the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, where he participated, but failed to reach the final. In 1993 di Napoli won the 3,000 m
Indoor World Championships' gold medal; a title which he defended at the
1995 Indoor Championships. However, his achievements in outdoor races remained mixed.
Achievements
National titles
Gennaro Di Napoli has won 8 times the individual
national championship
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
.
*3 wins in the
1500 metres
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...
(1990, 1991, 1992)
*1 win in the
5000 metres
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...
(2000)
*1 win in the
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...
(1996)
*3 wins in the
3000 metres
The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track.
It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...
indoor (1997, 1999, 2000)
See also
*
Italian all-time lists - 1500 metres
*
Italian all-time lists - 5000 metres
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Napoli, Gennaro
1968 births
Living people
Italian male cross country runners
Italian male middle-distance runners
Italian male long-distance runners
Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes of Italy
Athletes from Naples
Athletics competitors of Fiamme Oro
European Athletics Championships medalists
European athletics champions for Italy
Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy
Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Mediterranean Games
World Athletics Championships athletes for Italy
Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics
World Athletics Indoor Championships winners