Massimo Di Giorgio (born 22 March 1958) is a former

Italia 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 ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er, who won three medals at

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

level 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 ...

Biography

He finished fifteenth at the 1978 European Indoor Championships, won the gold medal at the

1979 Mediterranean Games The 1979 Mediterranean Games, officially known as the VIII Mediterranean Games, and commonly known as Split 1979, were the 8th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Split, Yugoslavia, from 15 to 29 September 1979, where 2,408 athletes (2,00 ...

and won a bronze medal at the 1983 European Indoor Championships. His personal best jump is 2.30 metres, achieved in June 1981 in

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

1980 Moscow Olympics boycott

Italian athletes serving in its military corps could not attend the

Games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

, however, because of the

national government A national government is the government of a nation. National government or National Government may also refer to: * Central government in a unitary state, or a country that does not give significant power to regional divisions * Federal governme ...

's official support of the

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

. In 1980 Massimo Di Giorgio, like other leading Italian athletes (the swimmer Marcello Guarducci, the modern pentathlete Daniele Masala and the judoka Ezio Gamba) who in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1980 would have had medal ambitions, could not participate in those

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

because belonged to military bodies. Ezio Gamba resigned from the military body in time and was able to participate in the Games under the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

flag, it was not so for the others. The day when the winners of the Olympic gold medals,

Pietro Mennea Pietro Paolo Mennea (; 28 June 1952 – 21 March 2013), nicknamed ("the Arrow of the South"), was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200m event, winning a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and set a world ...

, Sara Simeoni and

Maurizio Damilano Maurizio Damilano (born 6 April 1957 in Scarnafigi, Italy) is an Italian former race walking, race walker. He won 15 individual medals (22 also with team events), at senior (athletics), senior level, at the International athletics championships a ...

were appointed Knights of the Italian Republic by the Italian President

Sandro Pertini Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician who served as the president of Italy from 1978 to 1985. Early life Born in Stella (Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landown ...

, Di Giorgio and Guarducci went to protest at the

Quirinale The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzian ...

because they believed that they too would had to have equal recognition.

The candidacy for President of FIDAL

In 2004, at the age of 46, Massimo di Giorgio decided to propose his candidacy as President of the

Italian Athletics Federation The Italian Athletics Federation (Italian: ''Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera'', FIDAL), is the governing body for athletics in Italy since 1906. The Italian Federation, founded on 21 October 1906, on initiative of ''La Gazzetta dello Sp ...

(FIDAL), he was then defeated by the former Italian middle-distance runner Franco Arese.

National records

* High jump: 2.25 m ( Nova Gorica, 15 April 1979) * High jump: 2.26 m (

, 20 May 1979) * High jump: 2.27 m (

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, 19 September 1979) * High jump: 2.29 m (

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, 5 July 1980) * High jump: 2.30 m (

, 15 June 1981) since 21 July 1988 ( Luca Toso sets 2.32 m)

Achievements

National titles

Massimo Di Giorgio has won 7 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 ...

. * Italian Athletics Championships **High jump: 1979, 1980, 1982 (3) *

Italian Athletics Indoor Championships The Italian Athletics Indoor Championships ( it, Italian Athletics Indoor Championships) are the national championships in Athletics (sport), athletics of the indoor events, organised every year by the Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera from ...

**High jump: 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983 (4)

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Di Giorgio, Massimo 1958 births Living people Athletics competitors of Fiamme Oro Italian male high jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1979 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Sportspeople from Udine