Mario Paonessa (born 9 December 1990) is an Italian

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

. A two-time World Championship medallist, he competed in the men's four at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, and the men's eight event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Career

Paonessa began rowing at the age of nine, encouraged by his father who was also a rower. In 2008, he was part of the Italian junior quadruple sculls team that won silver at the World Championships. He was then part of the Italian under-23 men's four that won the U23 World title in 2010. A year later, his team won silver in the same event. His first senior medal was a bronze medal at the 2011 European Championships in the men's four. It was also in this event that he made his Olympic debut in 2012. In 2012 he was also part of the Italian men's eight that won 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, ...

. At the 2016 World Championships, Paonessa and

Vincenzo Capelli Vincenzo Capelli (born 26 October 1988) is an Italian rower. He competed in the men's four at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the men's eight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At World level, he finished won the coxed pairs at the 2011 World Ch ...

with cox Andrea Riva won the bronze medal in the coxed pair. The following year, Paonessa won another

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

bronze, this time in the men's eight.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paonessa, Mario 1990 births Living people Italian male rowers Olympic rowers for Italy Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Italy Rowers of Fiamme Gialle Sportspeople from the Province of Naples