Giovanni Di Cristo (born 1 August 1986 in

Torre del Greco Torre del Greco (; nap, Torre d' 'o Grieco; "Greek man's Tower") is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, with a population of c. 85,000 . The locals are sometimes called ''Corallini'' because of the once plentiful cora ...

) is an Italian

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

.FIJLKAM (Federazione Italiana Judo Lotta Karate Arti Marziali). "Schede biografiche: Di Cristo Giovanni." http://www.fijlkam.it/index.php?id=879. In Italian. At just six years old he started to practice judo at his local gym, in Torre del Greco near Naples. His first important successes came in the Minors category in 2001 and Cadets, when he won the Italian title in the 66 kg in 2002. He became known in the juvenile nationals and showed he was a leading athlete on the Italian judo scene, gaining two bronze medals in the junior championships of 2004 and 2005. In the same year he won the Italian junior/senior cup in Ostia. The year 2007 is the year that saw his definitive consecration in the international judo scene, winning the bronze medal in the Italian Under-23 championships, and then going on to become the Italian national champion in

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

and finally winning the gold medal in the European Under-23 Championships on 24 November 2007, in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

(Aut), after crushing the competition of the other European competitors. The athlete, a new acquisition of the

Guardia di Finanza The ''Guardia di Finanza'' (G. di F. or GdF) () (English: literal: ''Guard of Finance'', paraphrased: ''Financial Police'' or ''Financial Guard'') is an Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance. ...

, reconfirmed his high-level status in the Italian Championships in Genoa on 26 April 2008, winning 7 encounters and beating

Marco Maddaloni Marco Maddaloni (born 7 December 1984 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, wi ...

in the final match, who had been absent in 2007.

Achievements

References

External links

* 1986 births Living people Italian male judoka Sportspeople from the Province of Naples People from Torre del Greco Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in judo Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games {{Italy-judo-bio-stub