Won gold medal over historic course in Athens
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| Stefano Baldini, Italy's fastest marathon runner to date |
Stefano Baldini, the marathon runner who was Olympic
champion in Athens in 2004 and twice won the European marathon title, as born
on this day in 1971 in Castelnovo di Sotto, about 14km (nine miles) north-west
of the city of Reggio Emilia.
Although Baldini’s class was not doubted, his Olympic gold
was slightly tarnished by an incident seven kilometres from the finish when a
spectator broke through the barriers and attacked the Brazilian runner,
Vanderlei de Lima, who was leading the field.
The spectator, an Irishman called Conelius Horan who had
disrupted the British Grand Prix motor race the previous year, was wrestled off
de Lima by another spectator but the incident cost the Brazilian 15 to 20
seconds and much momentum. He was passed subsequently by Baldini and finished third.
Baldini finished the race, which followed the historic route
from Marathon to Athens, in two hours 10 minutes and 55 seconds,
although this was not the fastest time of his career.
His best was the 2:07:56 he clocked at the 1997 London
Marathon, when he finished second, in what is still the fastest time by an
Italian over the marathon distance.
Baldini comes from a family of 11 children, among whom he
has two brothers who were distance runners, Marco once achieving a time of 2:16:32
in the marathon. Throughout his career he has run in the colours of the Calcestruzzi
Corradini Rubiera club, based in the town of Rubiera, midway between
Reggio Emilia and Modena.
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| Stefano Baldini (left) passes the Brazilian Vanderlei de Lima on the way to winning the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens |
He began racing over long distances even as a teenager.
Initially his specialities were the 5,000m and 10,000m and he was 24 before he
took on his first marathon, when he finished sixth in the Venice Marathon in
2:11:01.
Before winning his Olympic gold in Athens had already taken
part in the marathon in Sydney in 2000, having competed at 5,000m and 10,000m
at the Atlanta Games in 1996, making the semi-finals in the former.
He took the gold medal in the half-marathon at the World
championships in 1996 in Palma de Mallorca.
His first important marathon victory came at the European championships
in 1998 in Budapest. He won the Rome Marathon
in the same year.
Baldini won a second European gold eight years later in Gothenburg.
His best performances over the marathon distance in the World championships
came in Edmonton in 2001 and Paris in 2003, taking the bronze medal on each
occasion.
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| Stefano Baldini in action in the New York marathon |
He went to Beijing in 2008 to defend his Olympic title but after
finishing 12th he announced his retirement, having the same year
competed in his ninth London Marathon, in which he also came home 12th. By then Baldini was 37, although he did
attempt a comeback in 2010 before announcing that he would be giving up for
good and concentrating on his work with the Italian Athletics Federation.
In 2014, by which time he had become established as the technical
director for youth athletics in Italy, Baldino took part in a charity event to
mark the 10th anniversary of his Athens victory, which made him the
second Italian, after Gelindo Bordin, to win an Olympic marathon gold.
Married to the former 400m runner Virna de Angeli, he lives
today in Rubiera with his wife and three children, Alessia, Laura and Lorenzo.
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| The Via Appia forms Rubiera's porticoed main street |
Travel tip:
The town of Rubiera was established in around 1200 when a
castle was built to protect the city of Modena. It sits alongside the Secchia
river and flanks the Via Appia. The castle became a prison at the time the town
was owned by the Este family. It was sold at auction in 1873, half becoming
private property and half taken on by the municipal authorities. Today very little remains of the original
structure. The town itself is
characterised by streets lined with porticoes.
Notable buildings include the 15th century Palazzo Sacrati
and the art nouveau Teatro Herberia.
Travel tip:
Castelnovo di Sotto, a community of around 8,000 people in
the Po Valley, is famous as the home of one of Italy’s most ancient carnivals,
dating back to the 16th century, and the birthplace of Luigi Melegari,
one of the founders of the Young Italy movement alongside Giuseppe Mazzini and
an important figure in the Risorgimento.
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