Italy competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. 340 competitors, 236 men and 104 women, took part in 172 events in 27 sports.
Antonio Rossi — Canoeing, Men's K1 500 metres Kayak Singles
Antonio Rossi and Daniele Scarpa — Canoeing, Men's K2 1.000 metres Kayak Pairs
Andrea Collinelli — Cycling, Men's 4.000 metres Individual Pursuit
Silvio Martinello — Cycling, Men's Points Race
Antonella Bellutti — Cycling, Women's Individual Pursuit
Paola Pezzo — Cycling, Women's Cross-country Mountainbike
Alessandro Puccini — Fencing, Men's Foil Individual Competition
Maurizio Randazzo, Sandro Cuomo, and Angelo Mazzoni — Fencing, Men's Épée Team Competition
Giovanna Trillini, Francesca Bortolozzi-Borella, and Valentina Vezzali — Fencing, Women's Foil Team Competition
Yuri Chechi — Gymnastics, Men's Rings
Agostino Abbagnale and Davide Tizzano — Rowing, Men's Double Sculls
Roberto Di Donna — Shooting, Men's Air Pistol
Ennio Falco — Shooting, Men's Skeet
Fiona May — Athletics, Women's Long Jump
Elisabetta Perrone — Athletics, Women's 10 km Walk
Beniamino Bonomi — Canoeing, Men's K1 1.000 metres Kayak Singles
Beniamino Bonomi and Daniele Scarpa — Canoeing, Men's K2 500 metres Kayak Pairs
Imelda Chiappa — Cycling, Women's Individual Road Race
Margherita Zalaffi, Laura Chiesa, and Elisa Uga — Fencing, Women's Épée Team Competition
Valentina Vezzali — Fencing, Women's Foil Individual Competition
Girolamo Giovinazzo — Judo, Men's Extra Lightweight (60 kg)
Albano Pera — Shooting, Men's Double Trap
Andrea Sartoretti, Paolo Tofoli, Andrea Zorzi, Pasquale Gravina, Marco Meoni, Samuele Papi, Luca Cantagalli, Andrea Gardini, Andrea Giani, Lorenzo Bernardi, Vigor Bovolenta, and Marco Bracci — Volleyball, Men's Team Competition
Michele Frangilli, Matteo Bisiani, and Andrea Parenti — Archery, Men's Team Competition
Alessandro Lambruschini — Athletics, Men's 3.000 metres Steeplechase
Roberta Brunet — Athletics, Women's 5.000 metres
Josefa Idem Guerrini — Canoeing, Women's K1 500 metres Kayak Singles
Raffaello Caserta, Luigi Tarantino, and Tonhi Terenzi – Fencing, Men's Sabre Team Competition
Giovanna Trillini — Fencing, Women's Foil Individual Competition
Ylenia Scapin — Judo, Women's Half Heavyweight (72 kg)
Roberto Didonna — Shooting, Men's Free Pistol
Andrea Benelli — Shooting, Men's Skeet
Emanuele Merisi — Swimming, Men's 200m Backstroke
Leonardo Sottani, Carlo Silipo, Luca Giustolisi, Amedeo Pomilio, Francesco Postiglione, Roberto Calcaterra, Marco Gerini, Alberto Ghibellini, Alessandro Bovo, Alessandro Calcaterra, Alberto Angelini, Francesco Attolico, and Fabio Bencivenga — Water Polo, Men's Team Competition
Alessandra Sensini — Sailing, Women's Mistral Individual Competition
The Italian men received unfortunate rankings in the open round, and both Andrea Parenti and Matteo Bisiani quickly found themselves losing to eventual silver medallist Magnus Petersson, in the second and third rounds, respectively. Both had the highest score of any archer to lose in their round. Michele Frangilli advanced to the quarterfinal before facing eventual gold medallist Justin Huish. They won the bronze medal in the team round.
Women's Individual Competition:
Giovanna Aldegani – round of 32, 28th place (1–1)
Paola Fantato – round of 64, 54th place (0–1)
Giuseppina di Blasi – round of 64, 60th place (0–1)
Men's Individual Competition:
Michele Frangilli – quarterfinal, 6th place (3–1)
Matteo Bisiani – round of 16, 9th place (2–1)
Andrea Parenti – round of 32, 17th place (1–1)
Women's Team Competition:
Aldegani, Fantato, and di Blasi – round of 16, 9th place (0–1)
Men's Team Competition:
Frangilli, Bisiani, and Parenti – Bronze Medal Match (3–1) → Bronze Medal
Men's 100 metres
Ezio Madonia
Stefano Tilli
Men's 200 metres
Sandro Floris
Men's 800 metres
Giuseppe D'Urso
Andrea Benvenuti
Andrea Giocondi
Men's 5,000 metres
Genny di Napoli
Qualification — 14:03.56
Semifinal — 13:28.80
Final — 13:28.36 (→ 12th place)
Stefano Baldini
Qualification — 13:55.41
Semifinal — 14:06.45 (→ did not advance)
Men's 10,000 metres
Stefano Baldini
Qualification — 27:55.79
Final — 29:07.77 (→ 18th place)
Men's Marathon
Danilo Goffi — 2:15.08 (→ 9th place)
Salvatore Bettiol — 2:17.27 (→ 20th place)
Davide Milesi — 2:21.45 (→ 50th place)
Men's 4 × 100 m Relay
Giovanni Puggioni, Ezio Madonia, Angelo Cipolloni, and Sandro Floris
Heat — did not finish (→ did not advance)
Men's 4 × 400 m Relay
Fabrizio Mori, Alessandro Aimar, Andrea Nuti, and Ashraf Saber
Heat — 3:03.60
Semi Final — 3:02.56 (→ did not advance)
Men's 400m Hurdles
Fabrizio Mori
Heat — 48.90s
Semi Final — 48.43s
Final — 48.41s (→ 6th place)
Laurent Ottoz
Heat — 48.92s
Semi Final — 48.52s (→ did not advance)
Ashraf Saber
Heat — 49.71s (→ did not advance)
Men's 3,000 metres Steeplechase
Alessandro Lambruschini
Heat — 8:31.69
Semifinals — 8:27.32
Final — 8:11.28 (→ Bronze Medal)
Angelo Carosi
Heat — 8:30.83
Semifinals — 8:21.86
Final — 8:29.67 (→ 9th place)
Men's Long Jump
Simone Bianchi
Qualification — 7.79m (→ did not advance)
Men's Shot Put
Paolo Dal Soglio
Corrado Fantini
Giorgio Venturi
Men's Discus Throw
Diego Fortuna
Qualification — 60.08m (→ did not advance)
Men's Hammer Throw
Enrico Sgrulletti
Qualification — 77.36m
Final — 76.98m (→ 9th place)
Loris Paoluzzi
Qualification — 72.82m (→ did not advance)
Men's Decathlon
Beniamino Poserina
Final Result — 7013 points (→ 30th place)
Men's 20 kilometres Walk
Giovanni Perricelli
Giovanni De Benedictis
Michele Didoni
Men's 50 kilometres Walk
Arturo Di Mezza — 3'44:52 (→ 4th place)
Giovanni Perricelli — 3'52:31 (→ 13th place)
Giovanni De Benedictis — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Women's 400 metres
Virna De Angeli
Patrizia Spuri
Women's 5,000 metres
Roberta Brunet
Silvia Sommaggio
Women's 10,000 metres
Maria Guida
Qualification — 31:55.35
Final — did not start (→ no ranking)
Silvia Sommaggio
Qualification — 32:59.40 (→ did not advance)
Women's Marathon
Ornella Ferrara — 2:33.09 (→ 13th place)
Maria Curatolo — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Maura Viceconte — did not finish (→ no ranking)
Women's 100m Hurdles
Carla Tuzzi
Women's 400m Hurdles
Virna de Angeli
Qualification — 57.12 (→ did not advance)
Women's Discus Throw
Agnese Maffeis
Qualification — 56.54m (→ did not advance)
Women's High Jump
Antonella Bevilacqua
Qualification — 1.93m
Final — 1.99m (→ 4th place)
Women's Long Jump
Fiona May
Qualification — 6.85m
Final — 7.02m (→ Silver Medal)
Women's Triple Jump
Barbara Lah
Qualification — 13.74m (→ did not advance)
Women's Heptathlon
Giuliana Spada
Women's 10 km Walk
Elisabetta Perrone – 42:12 (→ Silver Medal)
Rossella Giordano – 42:43 (→ 5th place)
Annarita Sidoti – 43:57 (→ 11th place)
The Italians were one of four teams that made their second appearance in Olympic baseball in 1996. They improved slightly, upon their seventh-place finish of four years earlier by taking the middle place in a three-way tie for fifth through seventh places. They had defeated Korea and Australia in the preliminary round but had lost their other five preliminary games.
Men's Team Competition:
Italy – 6th place (2–5)
Team Roster
Claudio Liverzani
Pier Paolo Illuminati
Roberto De Franceschi
David Rigoli
Marco Urbani
Francesco Casolari
Andrea Evangelisti
Enrico Vecchi
Massimiliano Masin
Paolo Ceccaroli
Ruggero Bagialemani
Paolo Passerini
Massimo Fochi
Alberto d'Auria
Roberto Cabalisti
Dante Cabrini
Marco Barboni
Rolando Cretis
Luigi Carrozza
Fabio Betto
Andrea Ghiurghi and Nicola Grigolo — 13th place overall
Men's Flyweight (51 kg)
Carmine Molaro
First Round — Lost to Hussein Hussein (Australia), 8–11
Men's Lightweight (60 kg)
Christian Giantomassi
First Round — Lost to Sergey Kopenkin (Kyrgyzstan), 11–12
Men's Light Middleweight (71 kg)
Antonio Perugino
First Round — Defeated José Quinones (Puerto Rico), 10–8
Second Round — Defeated Roger Pettersson (Sweden), 18–4
Quarter Finals — Lost to Alfredo Duvergel (Cuba), 8–15
Men's Light Heavyweight (81 kg)
Pietro Aurino
First Round — Defeated Yusuf Öztürk (Turkey), 15–7
Second Round — Lost to Vassili Jirov (Kazakhstan), 13–18
Men's Super Heavyweight (> 91 kg)
Paolo Vidoz
First Round — Bye
Second Round — Lost to Alexis Rubalcaba (Cuba), referee stopped contest in first round
Men's Individual Time Trial
Maurizio Fondriest
Final — 1:05:01 (→ 4th place)
Francesco Casagrande
Final — 1:09:18 (→ 19th place)
Women's Individual Road Race
Imelda Chiappa
Final — 02:36:38 (→ Silver Medal)
Alessandra Cappellotto
Final — 02:37:06 (→ 7th place)
Roberta Bonanomi
Final — 02:37:06 (→ 32nd place)
Women's Individual Time Trial
Imelda Chiappa
Final – 38:47 (→ 8th place)
Men's Points Race
Silvio Martinello
Final — 37 points (→ Gold Medal)
Men's Cross Country
Daniele Pontoni
Final — 2:25:08 (→ 5th place)
Luca Bramati
Final — 2:26:05 (→ 8th place)
Women's Cross Country
Paola Pezzo
Final — 1:50.51 (→ Gold Medal)
Annabella Stropparo
Final — 1:55.56 (→ 6th place)
Men's 3m Springboard
Davide Lorenzini
Preliminary Round — 356.55
Semi Final — 202.80 (→ 15th place)
Women's 3m Springboard
Francesca d'Oriano
Preliminary Heat — 208.77 (→ did not advance, 24th place)
Women's 10m Platform
Francesca d'Oriano
Preliminary Heat — 202.86 (→ did not advance, 28th place)
Sixteen fencers, nine men and seven women, represented Italy in 1996.
Men's foil
Alessandro Puccini
Stefano Cerioni
Marco Arpino
Men's team foil
Alessandro Puccini, Marco Arpino, Stefano Cerioni
Men's épée
Sandro Cuomo
Angelo Mazzoni
Maurizio Randazzo
Men's team épée
Sandro Cuomo, Angelo Mazzoni, Maurizio Randazzo
Men's sabre
Tonhi Terenzi
Luigi Tarantino
Raffaelo Caserta
Men's team sabre
Luigi Tarantino, Raffaelo Caserta, Tonhi Terenzi
Women's foil
Valentina Vezzali
Giovanna Trillini
Diana Bianchedi
Women's team foil
Francesca Bortolozzi-Borella, Giovanna Trillini, Valentina Vezzali
Women's épée
Margherita Zalaffi
Elisa Uga
Laura Chiesa
Women's team épée
Elisa Uga, Laura Chiesa, Margherita Zalaffi
Preliminary Round (Group C)
Lost to Mexico (0–1)
Lost to Ghana (2–3)
Defeated South Korea (2–1) → Did not advance
Team Roster
Gianluca Pagliuca
Christian Panucci
Alessandro Nesta
Fabio Cannavaro
Fabio Galante
Salvatore Fresi
Raffaele Ametrano
Massimo Crippa
Marco Branca
Massimo Brambilla
Marco Delvecchio
Gianluigi Buffon
Alessandro Pistone
Damiano Tommasi
Fabio Pecchia
Domenico Morfeo
Cristiano Lucarelli
Antonino Bernardini
Luigi Sartor
Head Coach: Cesare Maldini
Men's Individual Competition:
Cesare Toraldo – 5402 pts (→ 8th place)
Fabio Nebuloni – 5285 pts (→ 17th place)
Alessandro Conforto – 5128 pts (→ 25th place)
Men's 50m Freestyle
René Gusperti
Heat – 22.85
B-Final – 22.96 (→ 14th place)
Men's 200m Freestyle
Massimiliano Rosolino
Heat – 1:48.80
Final – 1:48.50 (→ 6th place)
Pier Maria Siciliano
Heat – 1:49.88
B-Final – 1:50.07 (→ 13th place)
Men's 400m Freestyle
Emiliano Brembilla
Heat – 3:49.35
Final – 3:49.87 (→ 4th place)
Massimiliano Rosolino
Heat – 3:51.05
Final – 3:51.04 (→ 6th place)
Men's 1500m Freestyle
Emiliano Brembilla
Heat – 15:16.72
Final – 15:08.58 (→ 4th place)
Marco Formentini
Heat – 15:41.14 (→ did not advance, 18th place)
Men's 100m Backstroke
Emanuele Merisi
Heat – 55.82
Final – 55.53 (→ 6th place)
Men's 200m Backstroke
Emanuele Merisi
Heat – 2:00.01
Final – 1:59.18 (→ Bronze Medal)
Mirko Mazzari
Heat – 1:59.95
Final – 2:01.27 (→ 7th place)
Men's 100m Butterfly
Andrea Oriana
Heat – 56.04 (→ did not advance, 39th place)
Men's 200m Butterfly
Andrea Oriana
Heat – 2:00.67 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
Men's 200m Individual Medley
Luca Sacchi
Heat – 2:03.24
B-Final – 2:03.49 (→ 11th place)
Men's 400m Individual Medley
Luca Sacchi
Heat – 4:19.63
Final – 4:18.31 (→ 6th place)
Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay
Emiliano Brembilla, Emanuele Idini, Pier Maria Siciliano, and Massimiliano Rosolino
Heat – 7:22.69
Massimiliano Rosolino, Emanuele Idini, Emanuele Merisi, and Pier Maria Siciliano
Final – 7:19.92 (→ 6th place)
Women's 100m Freestyle
Cecilia Vianini
Heat – 57.17 (→ did not advance, 24th place)
Women's 200m Backstroke
Lorenza Vigarani
Heat – 2:13.58
Final – 2:14.56 (→ 7th place)
Women's 100m Breaststroke
Manuela Dalla Valle
Heat – 1:10.25
B-Final – 1:11.19 (→ 15th place)
Women's 100m Butterfly
Ilaria Tocchini
Heat – 1:01.83 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
Women's 200m Butterfly
Ilaria Tocchini
Heat – 2:16.10 (→ did not advance, 17th place)
Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay
Lorenza Vigarani, Manuela Dalla Valle, Ilaria Tocchini, and Cecilia Vianini
Heat – 4:10.57
Final – 4:10.59 (→ 8th place)
Men's Singles Competition
Renzo Furlan
First round — Defeated Jiří Novák (Czech Republic) 4–5 6–4 6–3
Second round — Defeated Luis Morejon (Ecuador) 7–5 6–2
Third round — Defeated Marc Rosset (Switzerland) 6–2 4–2 retired
Quarter Finals — Lost to Leander Paes (India) 1–6 9–7
Andrea Gaudenzi
First round — Defeated Carlos Costa (Spain) 6–3 6–2
Second round — Defeated Oscar Ortiz (Mexico) 6–1 7–6
Third round — Lost to Andre Agassi (United States) 6–2 4–6 2–6
Women's Singles Competition
Rita Grande
First round — Lost to Patricia Hy-Boulais (Canada) 4–6 4–6
Silvia Farina
First round — Defeated Clare Wood (Great Britain) 6–2 6–2
Second round — Lost to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (Spain) 1–6 3–6
Preliminary Round (Group B)
Defeated South Korea (3–0)
Defeated Tunisia (3–0)
Defeated Netherlands (3–0)
Defeated Russia (3–0)
Defeated Yugoslavia (3–0)
Quarterfinals
Defeated Brazil (3–2)
Semifinals
Defeated Yugoslavia (3–1)
Final
Lost to the Netherlands (2–3) → Silver Medal
Team Roster
Lorenzo Bernardi
Vigor Bovolenta
Marco Bracci
Luca Cantagalli
Andrea Gardini
Andrea Giani
Pasquale Gravina
Marco Meoni
Samuele Papi
Andrea Sartoretti
Paolo Tofoli
Andrea Zorzi
Head Coach: Julio Velasco
Preliminary Round (Group B)
Defeated United States (10–7)
Defeated Ukraine (8–6)
Defeated Croatia (10–8)
Defeated Greece (10–8)
Defeated Romania (10–9)
Quarterfinals
Defeated Russia (11–9)
Semifinals
Lost to Croatia (6–7)
Bronze Medal Match
Defeated Hungary (20–18) → Bronze Medal
Team Roster
Francesco Attolico
Francesco Postiglione
Alessandro Bovo
Fabio Bencivenga
Alessandro Calcaterra
Roberto Calcaterra
Luca Giustolisi
Alberto Angelini
Amedeo Pomilio
Marco Gerini
Leonardo Sottani
Carlo Silipo
Alberto Ghibellini
