The Italian looks back to the 1986 European 10,000m final in Stuttgart, which he won ahead of compatriots Alberto Cova and Salvatore Antibo in 27:56.79.
I was very young when I went to my first major championships, the 1982 European Championships, where I ran the 1500m. When I was 16, I was 8th in the European Junior 3000m in Bydgoszcz in 1979 in 8:10 and people said:
People pushed me to go 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. He still didn’t want me to go up in distance because I had an achilles problem at the end of the race where I 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 my brother’s, a little less than my father’s. He was cooperative and encouraged me to stay down rather than jump up.
We both felt that I would eventually be a good athlete at the longer distances, so I did a lot of technical work and went back to running 800s, 1500s, just working my way up. We didn’t want to sacrifice quality for more quantity.
In 1984 I made it to the Olympics in the 1500m and only then did I really increase my mileage, focus more on endurance and continue to pay special attention to how my muscles work.
And so in 1985 I started running some good 5000s. I ran 13:20 in fourth place in Zurich and second to Doug Padilla at the World Cup in Canberra. I started to realize that I was stronger, I had more natural stamina, and it grew to the point where I knew I could run with people like Alberto and make a different kind of push to the finish line, coming out of the 300m.
That European Championship was only my fifth competitive 10,000m. I did one when I was very young in 1980, but I didn’t do another until 1986. My fourth was in Oslo, where I did my personal best, and it was the one that I found easiest because five laps ago it was still easy. And then came the Europeans.
By then, Alberto had established himself as a great runner. Salvatore was also with us. It was a strange battle between us because we all had different philosophies about tactics, about the sport. We were not friends then.
In the European final I changed pace four or five times before really pushing it in the last 100m. The secret was entirely technical, but we had also changed the mentality of Italian middle distance running, because people looked at us and said: Step by step, I had built up to Stuttgart.
It was a fantastic moment for us as Italians to take the gold, silver and bronze and to be on that podium, but I still regret that we weren’t brothers together at that moment either. The day of the medal presentation was bad.
I remember a few days later in the 5000m race, when Jack Buckner was declared the winner, Salvatore and Alberto warmed up with the Portuguese and I was left alone. In the race they started to push the pace very fast with the Portuguese, trying to give me some problems. But it didn’t work out for them. In the last lap it was just me, Jack and Tim Hutchings (the three medalists). The other two Italians were eighth and tenth.
Maybe we were young and stupid, but no one wanted to slow down the conflict at that point. It was okay though. In life, when you’re younger, you’re brave, but you’re also stupid, so if I had this mindset at that point, maybe I needed it.
I felt sorry for those Europeans. I’m not so happy with what should have been a beautiful moment because maybe in another time we could all be good friends. We’re on very good terms now, but the friendship with Tim and Jack is still so strong and Jack’s European Championships record still stands until he goes to Birmingham next summer.
That 10,000m victory is now water under the bridge. It was a bit of a break in my career. But one thing I learned from that victory is that it’s just a step in your life and you have to use it well. If you think that you are alive with victory, then you are wrong. And life is like that.
Now, as the president of the Italian Federation, I talk to girls and boys and try to explain to them that this is not a war. It is the best moment of their life and this is the best job they will do in those five or ten years, so they should take advantage of every moment and not worry about disappointments because every bad situation creates success for tomorrow.
As Mark Woods said
Documents
Was bornFebruary 3, 1963
Events1500m/5000m/10000m
PBs: 3:34.57/13:11.57/ 27:43.97
Rewards:
1990European Championship 10000 m bronze
1986European Championships 10,000m gold, 5000m silver; European indoor championship 3000 m bronze
1982World U20 Championship bronze
