Italy competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 224 competitors, 197 men and 27 women, took part in 123 events in 19 sports.
Klaus Dibiasi — Diving, Men's 10m Platform
Graziano Mancinelli — Equestrian, Jumping Individual Competition
Rolando Rigoli, Cesare Salvadori, Michele Maffei, Mario Aldo Montano, and Mario Tullio Montano — Fencing, Men's Sabre Team Competition
Antonella Ragno-Lonzi — Fencing, Women's Foil Individual Competition
Angelo Scalzone — Shooting, Trap Individual Competition
Giorgio Cagnotto — Diving, Men's 3m Springboard
Alessandro Argenton — Equestrian, Three-Day Event Individual Competition
Novella Calligaris — Swimming, Women's 400m Freestyle
Pietro Mennea — Athletics, Men's 200m
Paola Pigni — Athletics, Women's 1.500m
Giorgio Cagnotto — Diving, Men's 10m Platform
Anselmo Silvino — Weightlifting, Men's Middleweight
Raimondo D'Inzeo, Piero D'Inzeo, Vittorio Orlandi, and Graziano Mancinelli — Equestrian, Jumping Team Competition
Silvano Basagni — Shooting, Trap Individual Competition
Novella Calligaris — Swimming, Women's 800m Freestyle
Novella Calligaris — Swimming, Women's 400m Individual Medley
Giuseppe Bognanni — Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman Flyweight
Gian-Matteo Ranzi — Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman Lightweight
In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Italy entered three men. Their highest placing competitor was Alfredo Massazza, at 31st place.
Men's Individual Competition:
Alfredo Massazza - 2340 points (→ 31st place)
Giancarlo Ferrari - 2322 points (→ 33rd place)
Sante Spigarelli - 2300 points (→ 35th place)
Men's 800 metres
Franco Arese
Heat — DNS (→ did not advance)
Men's 1500 metres
Franco Arese
Heat — 3:44.0
Semifinals — 3:41.1 (→ did not advance)
Gianni del Buono
Heat — 3:40.8
Semifinals — 3:42.0 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 100 m Relay
Vincenzo Guerini, Ennio Preatoni, Luigi Benedetti, and Pietro Mennea
Heat — 39.29s
Semifinals — 39.21s
Final — 39.14s (→ 8th place)
Men's High Jump
Enzo del Forno
Qualifying Round — 2.15m
Final — 2.15m (→ 10th place)
Marco Schivo
Qualifying Round — 2.15m
Final — 2.10m (→ 17th place)
Men's Team Competition
Preliminary Round (Group B)
Lost to Yugoslavia (78-85)
Defeated Senegal (92-56)
Lost to Soviet Union (66-79)
Defeated West Germany (68-57)
Defeated Poland (71-59)
Defeated Puerto Rico (71-54)
Defeated Philippines (101-81)
Semi Finals
Lost to United States (38-68)
Bronze Medal Match
Lost to Cuba (65-66) → Fourth place
Team Roster
Ottorino Flaborea
Giuseppe Brumatti
Giorgio Giomo
Mauro Cerioni
Massimo Masini
Renzo Bariviera
Marino Zanatta
Dino Meneghin
Pierluigi Marzorati
Luigi Serafini
Ivan Bisson
Giulio Iellini
Men's Light Flyweight:
Gaetano Curcetti
- 1/16-Final - Lost to Kadir Syed Abdul of Singapore (3 round, RSC)
Men's Flyweight:
Franco Udella
- 1/16-Final - Defeated Filex Maina of Kenya (5 - 0)
- 1/8-Final - Lost to Boris Zoriktuev of USSR (1 - 4)
Men's Featherweight:
Pasqualino Morbidelli
- 1/32-Final - Defeated Morgan Mwenya of Zambia (5 - 0)
- 1/16-Final - Defeated Ebu Sef Tatar of Turkey (5 -0 )
- 1/8-Final - Lost to Kazuo Kobayashi of Japan (1 round, KO)
Men's Lightweight:
Giambattista Capretti
- 1/32-Final - Defeated José Martinez of Canada (2 round, RSC)
- 1/16-Final - Lost to László Orbán of Hungary (1 - 4)
Men's Light Welterweight:
Ernesto Bergamasco
- 1/16-Final - Lost to Srisook Bantow of Thailand (1 - 4)
Men's Welterweight:
Damiano Lassandro
- 1/32-Final - Lost to Emilio Correa of Cuba (0 - 5)
Men's Light Middleweight:
Antonio Castellini
- 1/16-Final - Lost to Wiesław Rudkowski of Poland (0 - 5)
Men's Light Heavyweight:
Guglielmo Spinello
- 1/16-Final - Defeated Samson Laizer of Tanzania (2round KO)
- 1/8-Final - Lost to Rudi Hornig of West Germany (1 - 4)
Fifteen cyclists represented Italy in 1972.
Individual road race
Francesco Moser — 8th place
Walter Riccomi — 49th place
Aldo Parecchini — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Franco Ongarato — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Team time trial
Osvaldo Castellan
Pasqualino Moretti
Francesco Moser
Giovanni Tonoli
Sprint
Massimo Marino
Ezio Cardi
1000m time trial
Ezio Cardi
Final — 1:07.80 (→ 9th place)
Tandem
Dino Verzini and Giorgio Rossi → 9th place
Individual pursuit
Luciano Borgognoni
Team pursuit
Pietro Algeri
Giacomo Bazzan
Giorgio Morbiato
Luciano Borgognoni
Men's 3m Springboard
Giorgio Cagnotto — 591.63 points (→ Silver Medal)
Klaus Dibiasi — 559.05 points (→ 4th place)
Men's 10m Platform
Klaus Dibiasi — 504.12 points (→ Gold Medal)
Giorgio Cagnotto — 475.83 points (→ Bronze Medal)
19 fencers, 14 men and 5 women, represented Italy in 1972.
Men's foil
Nicola Granieri
Stefano Simoncelli
Arcangelo Pinelli
Men's team foil
Alfredo Del Francia, Nicola Granieri, Carlo Montano, Arcangelo Pinelli, Stefano Simoncelli
Men's épée
Nicola Granieri
Claudio Francesconi
Gianluigi Saccaro
Men's team épée
Claudio Francesconi, Nicola Granieri, Gianluigi Placella, Gianluigi Saccaro, Pier Alberto Testoni
Men's sabre
Michele Maffei
Mario Aldo Montano
Rolando Rigoli
Men's team sabre
Michele Maffei, Rolando Rigoli, Cesare Salvadori, Mario Aldo Montano, Mario Tullio Montano
Women's foil
Antonella Ragno-Lonzi
Maria Consolata Collino
Giulia Lorenzoni
Women's team foil
Antonella Ragno-Lonzi, Giulia Lorenzoni, Der Reka Cipriani, Maria Consolata Collino, Giuseppina Bersani
Three male pentathletes represented Italy in 1972.
Men's Individual Competition:
Mario Medda - 4850 points (→ 16th place)
Giovanni Perugini - 4571 points (→ 34th place)
Nicolo Deligia - 4492 points (→ 39th place)
Men's Team Competition:
Medda, Perugini, and Deligia - 13913 points (→ 10th place)
Men's Coxed Pairs
Giampaolo Tronchin, Mario Semenzato and Siro Kuhnke Meli
Heat — 8:02.79
Repechage — 8:10.46 (→ did not advance)
Eleven male shooters represented Italy in 1972. In the trap event, Angelo Scalzone won gold and Silvano Basagni won bronze.
25 m pistol
Giovanni Liverzani
Roberto Ferraris
50 m pistol
Giuseppe De Chirico
Piero Errani
50 m rifle, three positions
Giuseppe De Chirico
Walter Frescura
50 m rifle, prone
Giovanni Mezzani
Giancarlo Cecconi
Trap
Angelo Scalzone
Silvano Basagni
Skeet
Romano Garagnani
Carlo Alberto Lodi
Men's 100m Freestyle
Roberto Pangaro
Heat — 54.74s (→ did not advance)
Men's 200m Freestyle
Riccardo Targetti
Heat — 2:02.58 (→ did not advance)
Arnaldo Cinquetti
Heat — 2:01.78 (→ did not advance)
Roberto Pangaro
Heat — 2:00.97 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay
Roberto Pangaro, Paolo Barelli, Marcello Guarducci and Alberto Castagnetti
Heat — 3:38.81 (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
Roberto Pangaro, Arnaldo Cinquetti, Lorenzo Marugo, and Riccardo Targetti
Heat — 8:03.98 (→ did not advance)
Men's Competition
Vincenzo Finocchiaro, Sergio Irredento, Massimo Nistri, Edmondo Mingione, Michele di Pietro, Angelo Tozzi, Gaetano Carboni, and Mauro Calligaris. Reserve: Sandro Grassi.
Women's Competition
Laura Podestà, Novella Calligaris, Federica Stabilini, Patrizia Miserini, Donatella Talpo, Patrizia Lanfredini, Laura Gorgerino, and Alessandra Finesso. Reserve: Antonella Valentini.
Preliminary Round (Group C)
Lost to Soviet Union (1-4)
Defeated Bulgaria (8-5)
Defeated Spain (6-2)
Defeated Japan (12-5)
Final Round (Group I)
Lost to Hungary (7-8)
Drew with Yugoslavia (6-6)
Drew with West Germany (2-2)
Lost to United States (5-6) → Sixth place
Team Roster
Alberto Alberani
Eraldo Pizzo
Roldano Simeoni
Mario Cevasco
Alessandro Ghibellini
Gianni de Magistris
Guglielmo Marsili
Silvio Baracchini
Franco Lavoratori
Sante Marsili
Ferdinande Ligano
Men's Bantamweight:
Gaetano Tosto - 325.0 kg (→ 16th place)
Men's Featherweight:
Peppino Tanti - 372.5 kg (→ 8th place)
Men's Middleweight:
Anselmo Silvino - 470.0 kg (→ Bronze Medal)
Salvatore Laudani - 440.0 kg (→ 11th place)
Men's Light Heavyweight:
Dino Turcato - 455.0 (→ 9th place)
Men's Heavyweight:
Roberto Vezzani - 545.0 (→ 5th place)
Men's Slalom:
Roby Zucchi - 44.0 points (→ Gold Medal)
Men's Figure Skiing:
Max Hofer - 3850 points (→ 6th place)
Roby Zucchi - 3560 points (→ 8th place)
Men's Jump:
Max Hofer - 37.70 points (→ Silver Medal)
Roby Zucchi - 35.10 points (→ 7th place)
