The Italian remembers the European 10,000 meters final in Stuttgart in 1986, which he won ahead of his compatriots Alberto Cova and Salvatore Antibo in 27:56.79.
I was very young when I attended my first major championship, the 1982 European Championship, where I ran the 1,500 meters. When I was 16, I came eighth in the 3,000m at the Junior European Championships in Bydgoszcz in 1979 in 8:10 and people said, “You’re the new Jim Ryun.”
People pushed me to step forward, but my coach, Federico Leporati, was very strict. He told me I had a long way to go. That’s why I stayed with him for 20 years. I didn’t want him to go up distance yet because he had an Achilles problem at the end of races where he could pass people but never kick.
I see these athletes who leave one coach for another so quickly and I can’t believe it. Mine was more than a brother, a little less than a father. He collaborated and pushed me to stay down instead of flying up.
We both felt that I would eventually be a good athlete over longer distances, so I did a lot of technical work and came back running 800s, 1500s, just going step by step. We didn’t want to lose quality by making more quantity.
In 1984 I made it to the Olympics in the 1,500 meters and only after that did I really increase my mileage, focus more on endurance and continue to pay close attention to the functioning of my muscles.
And so, in 1985, I started running a good 5000. I ran 13:20 in Zurich in fourth place and was second in the World Cup in Canberra behind Doug Padilla. I began to understand that I was stronger, that I had a more natural resistance and it increased to the point where I knew I could run with people like Alberto and give a different push to the finish line starting from 300 meters.
That European Championships was only my fifth competitive 10,000m. I did one when I was very young in 1980, but I didn’t do another one until 1986. The fourth was in Oslo, where I did my personal best, and that was the one that was easiest for me because, with five laps to go, it still seemed easy. And then the Europeans came.
By then, Alberto had established himself as a great runner. Salvatore was also with us. It was a strange fight between us because we all had very different philosophies about tactics and the sport. We weren’t friends then.
In the European final, I changed pace four or five times before really pushing myself in the last 100 meters. The secret was totally technical, but we had also changed the mentality of Italian middle distance racing because people looked at us and said: “You have to work like a sprinter”, which I had done. Step by step he had been advancing towards Stuttgart.
For us to win gold, silver and bronze as Italians and be on that stage was a fantastic moment, but I still regret that we weren’t brothers at that time too. It was bad on the day of the medal ceremony.
I remember that, in the 5,000 meters a few days later, when Jack Buckner was the winner, Salvatore and Alberto warmed up with the Portuguese and I was alone. In the race, they started to push a very fast pace with the Portuguese to try to give me some problems. But it didn’t work for them. On the last lap it was just me, Jack and Tim Hutchings. [the three medallists]. The other two Italians were eighth and tenth.
Maybe we were young and stupid but no one wanted to stop the conflict at that time. That was good though. In life, when you are younger, you are brave but you are also stupid, so if I had this mentality at that time, maybe I needed it.
I was sorry about those Europeans. I don’t live so happy with what should have been a beautiful moment because maybe, in another time, we could all have been good friends. We now have a very good report but, with Tim and Jack, the friendship is still very strong and Jack’s European Championship record still stands before we go to Birmingham next summer.
That victory in the 10,000 m is now a thing of the past. It was a small break in my career. But I learned something from that victory, that it is just one step in your life and you have to use it in a good way. If you think you are alive with a victory, you are wrong. And life is like that.
Now, as president of the Italian federation, I talk to the girls and boys and try to explain to them that this is not a war. It is the best time of your life and this is the best work you will do during those five or ten years, so you have to take advantage of every moment and not worry about disappointments, because every bad situation builds success for tomorrow.
As told to Mark Woods
Data file
Born: February 3, 1963
Events: 1500m/5000m/10,000m
P.B.: 3:34.57/13:11.57/ 27:43.97
Honors:
1990: European Championships 10,000 m bronze
1986: European Championships 10,000 m gold, 5,000 m silver; European Indoor Championships 3,000 m bronze
1982: Bronze in the U20 World Cross Country Championships
