Italy at the 1920 Summer Olympics

24 athletes represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's fourth appearance in athletics. Frigerio gave the nation its first gold medals in the sport by winning both of the racewalking competitions. Italy's long-distance successes also included a bronze in the marathon and a bronze in the steeplechase. Overall, the nation placed fourth on the athletics medals leaderboard.

Ranks given are within the heat.

Athlete	Event	Heats		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Ernesto Ambrosini	800 m	N/A		2:00.2	4 Q	1:59.5	4	Did not advance
	3000 m steeplechase	N/A				10:33.6	2 Q	10:32.0
Valerio Arri	Marathon	N/A						2:36:32.8
Giuseppe Bernardoni	400 m	52.8	3	Did not advance
Ettore Blasi	Marathon	N/A						Did not finish
Giuseppe Bonini	800 m	N/A		2:02.2	2 Q	1:58.1	5	Did not advance
	1500 m	N/A				Unknown	7	Did not advance
Oprando Bottura	Javelin throw	42.70	17	N/A				Did not advance
Carlo Butti	Decathlon	N/A						Did not finish
Daciano Colbacchini	110 m hurdles	N/A		15.6	1 Q	Unknown	6	Did not advance
Giorgio Croci	100 m	11.2	3	Did not advance
Ugo Frigerio	3 km walk	N/A				13:40.2 OR	1 Q	13:14.2 OR
	10 km walk	N/A				47:06.4	1 Q	48:06.2
Aurelio Lenzi	Shot put	12.325	13	N/A				Did not advance
	Discus throw	37.75	9	N/A				Did not advance
Costante Lussana	10000 m	N/A				Unknown	10	Did not advance
Augusto Maccario	5000 m	N/A				Unknown	6	Did not advance
	10000 m	N/A				34:06.8	3 Q	32:02.0	4
Carlo Martinenghi	1500 m	N/A				Unknown	6	Did not advance
	5000 m	N/A				Did not finish		Did not advance
	3000 m steeplechase	N/A				Did not finish		Did not advance
Giovanni Orlandi	100 m	Unknown	6	Did not advance
	200 m	23.8	3	Did not advance
Donato Pavesi	3 km walk	N/A				13:46.8 OR	1 Q	Disqualified
	10 km walk	N/A				48:12.0	4 Q	Disqualified
Antonio Persico	Marathon	N/A						Did not finish
Arturo Porro	800 m	N/A		Unknown	6	Did not advance
	1500 m	N/A				4:09.0	2 Q	4:06.6	7
Mario Riccoboni	100 m	11.2	2 Q	Unknown	5	Did not advance
	200 m	Unknown	4	Did not advance
Agide Simonazzi	400 m	53.0	3	Did not advance
	800 m	N/A		1:58.9	5	Did not advance
Carlo Speroni	5000 m	N/A				15:27.6	1 Q	Unknown	7
	10000 m	N/A				32:13.1	4 Q	Did not finish
Giovanni Tosi	400 m	51.8	4	Did not advance
Giuseppe Tugnoli	Shot put	12.07	14	N/A				Did not advance
Vittorio Zucca	100 m	11.4	1 Q	Unknown	5	Did not advance
Ernesto Ambrosini Augusto Maccario Carlo Speroni	3000 m team	N/A				25	3 Q	36	5
Giorgio Croci Giovanni Orlandi Mario Riccobono Vittorio Zucca	4 × 100 m relay	N/A				Disqualified		Did not advance

Five boxers represented Italy at the 1920 Games. It was the nation's debut in boxing. Garzena had the best performance for Italy, taking all three of the nation's wins on his way to a bronze medal.

Boxer	Weight class	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / Bronze match
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Mariano Barbaresi	Heavyweight	N/A	Eluère (FRA) L	Did not advance			9
Dario Della Valle	Welterweight	Steen (NOR) L	Did not advance				17
Vincenzo Dell'Oro	Flyweight	N/A	Albert (FRA) L	Did not advance			9
Edoardo Garzena	Featherweight	Bye	Vincken (BEL) W	Cater (GBR) W	Fritsch (FRA) L	Zivic (USA) W
Leo Giunchi	Lightweight	N/A	Van Muyzen (BEL) L	Did not advance			9

Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent  Belgium 1 1 .500  France 0 3 .000  Great Britain 1 0 1.000  Norway 0 1 .000  United States 1 0 1.000 Total 3 5 .375

Round Wins Losses Percent Round of 32 0 1 .000 Round of 16 1 3 .250 Quarterfinals 1 0 1.000 Semifinals 0 1 .000 Final 0 0 – Bronze match 1 0 1.000 Total 3 5 .375

Twelve cyclists represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's third appearance in the sport. Italy took its first Olympic cycling medal when its pursuit team won the gold. Italy also had three cyclists place in the top eight of the 50 kilometres event, though none was able to secure a medal.

Track cycling

Ranks given are within the heat.

Italy won gold in the Men's team pursuit

Cyclist	Event	Heats		Quarterfinals		Repechage semis		Repechage final		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Vittorio Cavalotti	Sprint	Unknown	3	Did not advance
Ruggero Ferrario	50 km	N/A										Unknown	4
Luigi Gilardi	50 km	N/A										Did not finish
Francesco Giorgetti	Sprint	Unknown	2 Q	Unknown	2 R	Did not start		Did not advance
	50 km	N/A										Unknown	6
Primo Magnani	50 km	N/A										Unknown	8
Pietro Martinelli	Sprint	Unknown	3	Did not advance
Armido Rizzetto	Sprint	Unknown	3	Did not advance
Arnaldo Carli Ruggerio Ferrario Franco Giorgetti Primo Magnani	Team pursuit	N/A		6:20.0	1 Q	N/A				5:10.8	1 Q	5:14.2

Ten equestrians represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's second appearance in the sport. The Italian equestrians were fairly successful, winning five medals to take third place on the equestrian leader board for the Games. Italians took the top two spots in the individual jumping competition, as well as a bronze in the individual eventing. The nation also earned a medal in each of the two team events in which it participated, a silver in the eventing and a bronze in jumping (which, by the rules of the day, had to consist of entirely different riders than the individual jumping event).

Equestrian	Horse	Event	Final
			Result	Rank
Carlo Asinari	Savari	Eventing	1245.00	19
Emilio Benini	Passero	Jumping	13.00	19
Giulio Cacciandra	Facetto	Eventing	1353.75	14
Ettore Caffaratti	Caniche	Eventing	1733.75
Santorre de Rossi di Santa Rosa	Neruccio	Jumping	7.00	7
Tommaso Lequio di Assaba	Trebecco	Jumping	2.00
Garibaldi Spighi	Otello	Eventing	1647.50	5
	Virginia	Jumping	8.00	10
Ruggero Ubertalli	Proton	Jumping	10.25	17
Alessandro Valerio	Cento	Jumping	3.00
Alessandro Alvisi Carlo Asinari Giulio Cacciandra Ettore Caffaratti	Raggio di Sole Varone Fortunello Tradittore	Team jumping	18.75
Carlo Asinari Giulio Cacciandra Ettore Caffaratti Garibaldi Spighi	Savari Facetto Caniche Otello	Team eventing	4735.00

Nineteen fencers represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's fourth appearance in the sport. The Italian fencers took five of the six gold medals; the individual épée was the only event not won by an Italian (Italy's best result in that event was sixth place). Nedo Nadi took the individual gold medals in the foil and sabre; both he and his brother Aldo were on all three of the gold-medal teams. Aldo Nadi also took a silver medal in the individual sabre.

Ranks given are within the group.

Fencer	Event	First round		Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Olivier Abelardo	Épée	3–3	6 q	7–3	1 Q	6–5	2 Q	5–6	6
	Foil	N/A		7–1	1 Q	4–1	2 Q	3–8	9
Baldo Baldi	Sabre	N/A		3–3	4 Q	5–1	2 Q	3–8	12
Aldo Boni	Épée	3–5	6	Did not advance
Tullio Bozza	Épée	5–2	2 Q	5–5	7	Did not advance
Giovanni Canova	Épée	3–5	5 Q	5–6	7	Did not advance
Federico Cesarano	Foil	N/A		4–0	1 Q	0–5	6	Did not advance
	Sabre	N/A		5–2	2 Q	5–1	1 Q	3–8	10
Tommaso Constantino	Foil	N/A		4–1	2 Q	2–3	4	Did not advance
Francesco Gargano	Sabre	N/A		5–2	2 Q	3–3	3 Q	3–8	11
Aldo Nadi	Foil	N/A		6–0	1 Q	4–1	1 Q	6–5	5
	Sabre	N/A		6–1	1 Q	3–3	4 Q	9–2
Nedo Nadi	Foil	N/A		7–1	1 Q	5–0	1 Q	10–1
	Sabre	N/A		5–1	1 Q	6–0	1 Q	11–0
Oreste Puliti	Foil	N/A		4–1	2 Q	4–1	2 Q	5–6	7
	Sabre	N/A		6–1	1 Q	4–2	3 Q	6–5	4
Giulio Rusconi	Sabre	N/A		4–3	3 Q	3–3	5	Did not advance
Giorgio Santelli	Sabre	N/A		5–3	3 Q	2–4	6	Did not advance
Pietro Speciale	Foil	N/A		4–2	2 Q	2–3	3 Q	1–10	12
Rodolfo Terlizzi	Foil	N/A		2–4	4	Did not advance
Paolo Thaon	Épée	3–6	7	Did not advance
Dino Urbani	Épée	5–3	2 Q	6–4	3 Q	4–7	7	Did not advance
Olivier Abelardo Baldo Baldi Tommaso Constantino Aldo Nadi Nedo Nadi Oreste Puliti Pietro Speciale Rodolfo Terlizzi	Team foil	N/A				4–0	1 Q	4–0
Antonio Allochio Baldo Baldi Frederico Cesarano Francesco Gargano Aldo Nadi Nedo Nadi Oreste Puliti Giorgio Santelli Dino Urbani	Team sabre	N/A						7–0
Olivier Abelardo Antonio Allochio Tullio Bozza Giovanni Canova Tommaso Constantino Andrea Marrazzi Aldo Nadi Nedo Nadi Paolo Thaon Dino Urbani	Team épée	N/A				3–1	2 Q	5–0

Italy competed in the Olympic football tournament for the second time. The team beat Egypt in the first round before falling to France in the quarterfinals. In the tournament for second place, the Italians beat Norway before losing to Spain in the consolation semis.

Team Roster

• Piero Campelli
• Giovanni Giacone
• Antonio Bruna
• Renzo de Vecchi
• Virginio Rosetta
• Gracco de Nardo
• Ettore Reynaudi
• Mario Meneghetti
• Giuseppe Parodi
• Luigi Burlando
• Rinaldo Roggero
• Giustiniano Marucco
• Pio Ferraris
• Giuseppe Forlivesi
• Cesare Lovati
• Enrico Sardi
• Adolfo Baloncieri
• Emilio Badini
• Guglielmo Brezzi
• Aristodemo Santamaria
• Adevildo De Marchi

First round

August 28, 1920

Italy	2–1	Egypt
Baloncieri  25' Brezzi  57'	Report	Osman  30'

Jules Ottenstadion, Ghent

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Paul Putz (BEL)

Quarterfinals

August 29, 1920

France	3–1	Italy
Boyer  10' Nicolas  14' Bard  54'	Report	Brezzi  33' (pen.)

Olympisch Stadion, Antwerp

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Henri Christophe (BEL)

Consolation first round

August 31, 1920

Italy	2–1	Norway
Sardi  46' Badini  96'	Report	Andersen  41'

Broodstraat, Antwerp

Attendance: 500

Referee: Louis Fourgous (FRA)

Consolation semifinals

September 2, 1920

Spain	2–0	Italy
Sesúmaga  43'  72'	Report

Olympisch Stadion, Antwerp

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Paul Putz (BEL)

Final rank

5th

Twenty-seven gymnasts represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's fourth appearance in the sport. The Italians took gold medals in both of the events in which they competed, with Zampori taking the men's individual all-around and leading the Italians to a team gold. Italy did not compete in the free system or Swedish system team events.

Artistic gymnastics

Gymnast	Event	Final
		Result	Rank
Luigi Costigliolo	All-around	84.90	8
Vittorio Lucchetti	All-around	80.12	18
Luigi Maiocco	All-around	85.38	7
Giorgio Zampori	All-around	88.35
Angelo Zorzi	All-around	80.51	16
Arnaldo Andreoli Ettore Bellotto Pietro Bianchi Fernando Bonatti Luigi Cambiaso Luigi Contessi Carlo Costigliolo Luigi Costigliolo Giuseppe Domenichelli Roberto Ferrari Carlo Fregosi Romualdo Ghiglione Ambrogio Levati Francesco Loi Vittorio Lucchetti Luigi Maiocco Ferdinando Mandrini Lorenzo Mangiante Antonio Marovelli Michele Mastromarino Giuseppe Paris Manlio Pastorini Ezio Roselli Paolo Salvi Giovanni Tubino Giorgio Zampori Angelo Zorzi	Team	359.855

A single pentathlete represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's debut in the sport.

A point-for-place system was used, with the lowest total score winning.

Six rowers represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's third appearance in the sport. Italian rowers reached the finals for the first time, winning the nation's first two Olympic rowing medals: a gold in the coxed pairs and a silver in the double sculls.

Ranks given are within the heat.

Rower	Cox	Event	Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Final
			Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Nino Castelli	N/A	Single sculls	7:59.0	2	Did not advance
Pietro Annoni Erminio Dones	N/A	Double sculls	N/A		7:25.4	1 Q	7:19.0
Ercole Olgeni Giovanni Scatturin	Guido De Felip	Coxed pair	N/A		8:10.0	1 Q	7:56.0

Ten shooters represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's second appearance in the sport, and the first since 1896. Greece took a silver medal in the team military pistol, its first medal in shooting since 1896. Italy's best result was a fourth-place finish in the team standing military rifle.

Four tennis players, three men and one woman, competed for Italy in 1920. It was the nation's debut in the sport. Balbi and Colombo reached the quarterfinals in the men's doubles, the best result for Italy that year.

Player	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals	Rank
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score
Mino Balbi	Men's singles	Bye	Flaquer (ESP) W 6–2, 6–4, 6–1	Turnbull (GBR) L 3–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–8, 6–2	Did not advance			9
Alberto Bonacossa	Men's singles	von Braun (SWE) L 4–6, 6–1, 7–5, 6–2	Did not advance					32
Cesare Colombo	Men's singles	Bye	Nielsen (NOR) W 6–2, 6–3, 6–1	Lowe (GBR) L 6–4, 6–0, 2–6, 7–5	Did not advance			9
Rosetta Gagliardi	Women's singles	N/A	Lindberg (SWE) W 6–0	McKane (GBR) L 6–1, 1–6, 6–2	Did not advance			9
Mino Balbi Cesare Colombo	Men's doubles	N/A	Bye	Simon & Syz (SUI) W 6–3, 7–5, 3–6, 6–4	Turnbull & Woosnam (GBR) L 6–2, 6–8, 6–1, 6–3	Did not advance		5
Cesare Colombo Rosetta Gagliardi	Mixed doubles	N/A	Bye	Halot & Storms (BEL) L 8–6, 6–3	Did not advance			8

Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent  Belgium 0 1 .000  Great Britain 0 4 .000  Norway 1 0 1.000  Spain 1 0 1.000  Sweden 1 1 .500  Switzerland 1 0 1.000 Total 4 6 .400

Round Wins Losses Percent Round of 64 0 1 .000 Round of 32 3 0 1.000 Round of 16 1 4 .200 Quarterfinals 0 1 .000 Semifinals 0 0 – Final 0 0 – Bronze match 0 0 – Total 4 6 .400

Italy competed in the Olympic tug of war tournament for the first time in 1920, the final appearance of the sport in the Olympics. The Bergvall System was used in 1920. Italy lost its first match in the semifinals to the Netherlands. Because the Dutch went on to win the silver medal, Italy received an opportunity to contest the bronze. In the bronze medal semifinals, the Italians lost again, this time to the United States, to finish fifth and last in the tournament.

All matches were best-of-three pulls.

Semifinals

 

Netherlands (NED)	2–0	Italy (ITA)

 

Bronze medal semifinals

 

United States (USA)	2–0	Italy (ITA)

 

Final rank

5th

Five weightlifters, one in each weight class, represented Italy in 1920. It was the nation's debut in the sport. No Italian weightlifter placed worse than sixth, with two winning medals (including Bottino's gold) and two others just missing with fourth-place finishes.

Weightlifter	Event	Final
		Result	Rank
Pietro Bianchi	75 kg	235.0
Filippo Bottino	+82.5 kg	265.0
Luigi Gatti	60 kg	195.0	4
Gino Mattiello	82.5 kg	235.0	6
Giulio Monti	67.5 kg	230.0	4

Eight wrestlers, all in the Greco-Roman style, competed for Italy in 1920. It was the nation's third appearance in the sport. None of the Italian wrestlers advanced past the quarterfinals, or qualified for the silver or bronze rounds.

Greco-Roman

Wrestler	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals	Rank
				Silver quarters	Silver semis	Silver match
				Bronze quarters	Bronze semis	Bronze match
Giorgio Calza	Heavyweight	Kraus (TCH) (W)	Vassboten (NOR) (L)	Did not advance			12
				Did not advance
				Did not advance
Giovanni Cardinale	Light heavyweight	Bye	Wahlem (BEL) (L)	Did not advance			10
				N/A	Did not advance
				N/A
Carlo Corsanego	Middleweight	Gorbière (FRA) (W)	Balej (TCH) (L)	Did not advance			13
				Did not advance
				Did not advance
Giuseppe Gorletti	Middleweight	Bye	Fältström (SWE) (L)	Did not advance			13
				Did not advance
				Did not advance
Enrico Porro	Featherweight	Bye	Svensson (SWE) (W)	Boumans (BEL) (L)	Did not advance		9
				N/A	Did not advance
				Did not advance
Walter Ranghieri	Lightweight	Swigart (USA) (L)	Did not advance	Did not advance			18
				Did not advance
				Did not advance
Bruto Testoni	Light heavyweight	Bye	Sint (NED) (L)	Did not advance			10
				N/A	Did not advance
				N/A
Piero Vaglio	Featherweight	Bye	Boumans (BEL) (L)	Did not advance			11
				N/A	Did not advance
				Did not advance

Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent  Belgium 0 3 .000  Czechoslovakia 1 1 .500  France 1 0 1.000  Netherlands 0 1 .000  Norway 0 1 .000  Sweden 1 1 .500  United States 0 1 .000 Total 3 8 .273

Round Wins Losses Percent Round of 32 2 1 .667 Round of 16 1 6 .143 Quarterfinals 0 1 .000 Semifinals 0 0 – Final 0 0 – Silver quarterfinals 0 0 – Silver semifinals 0 0 – Silver match 0 0 – Bronze quarterfinals 0 0 – Bronze semifinals 0 0 – Bronze match 0 0 – Total 3 8 .273

• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report (in French).
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 16 August 2007.
• International Olympic Committee results database
• Media related to Italy at the 1920 Summer Olympics at Wikimedia Commons