Italy national bobsleigh team

Italy national bobsleigh team is the selection that represents Italy in international bobsleigh competitions.

The Italian bobsleigh's body is traditionally painted with the rosso corsa, the international auto racing colour informally assigned to Italy.

History

The sport of bobsleigh began to spread in Italy at the beginning of the 20th century, especially in Trentino and Veneto, where Federico Terschak introduced it in Cortina d'Ampezzo. In 1922, the first Italian bobsleigh championship was organised along the road of Falzarego Pass, while the following year Raffaele Zardini built the bobsleigh track in Ronco..

The Italian bobsleigh team debuted at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix with the five-man bobsleigh.

In 1925 the Bob Club of Italy was founded, which the following year established the Italian Ice Sports Federation (Federazione italiana sport del ghiaccio, FISG), which also included the Italian Skating Federation (Federazione italiana di pattinaggio) and the Italian Ice Hockey Federation (Federazione italiana di hockey sul ghiaccio).

At the 1930 World Bobsleigh Championships in Caux-sur-Montreux, first edition of the event organised by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, the Italian national bobsleigh team won the gold medal with the four-man bobsleigh team of Franco Zaninetta, Giorgio Biasini, Antonio Dorini and Gino Rossi.

In 1933 the FISG was incorporated into the Italian Winter Sports Federation (Federazione Italiana Sport Invernali, FISI); in the same year the Mottarone bobsleigh track was built on the initiative of Luigi Tornielli, in view of the World University Championships.

After World War II, the Italian Winter Sports Federation turned to the Italian Air Force to look for future Italian bobsleighers among fighter pilots, imitating the US strategy: after a special course, Marshal Lamberto Dalla Costa and Major Giacomo Conti were chosen and took part in the FIBT World Championships 1953 in Garmisch. The debut of Eugenio Monti, known as the "Flying Red" (Rosso volante), who dominated the world bobsleigh scene in the 1950s and 1960s, dates back to these years. The first Italian successes were achieved at home at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where, thanks to their excellent knowledge of the Olympic track and the innovative Podar bobsleighs, the Italian national team won the gold and silver medals in the two-man bobsleigh and the silver in the four-man bobsleigh.

After the extraordinary olympic success at Cortina, and the subsequent opening of the Blue Lake bobsleigh run in Cervinia in 1963, the Italian Air Force became increasingly interested in the sport and its acceleration on bends, which was useful for training its pilots. A 'bobsleigh school' was opened, renamed in 1965 as the 'Armed Forces Bobsleigh School', to train pilots, interiors and brakemen. In 1973, Italy's national military team was formed, which took part in the first edition of Military World Bobsleigh Championships in Cervinia.

After a break of more than 30 years, the Air Force Sports Centre resumed winter sports activities in 2012 so that its athletes could take part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Participation in the Winter Olympics

The Italian national bobsleigh team has always taken part in at least one discipline at every Winter Olympics (except at Squaw Valley in 1960, when the organising committee did not organise any bobsleight competitions for economic reasons), winning a total of 12 Olympic medals.

Italian women made their debut with the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, while in Turin 2006 they won their first and so far only medal.

The largest number of Olympic medals (six) was won by Eugenio Monti, known as the Rosso volante ('Flying Red'), in whose memory the Olympic track in Cortina d'Ampezzo was named.

Men's four-man bobsleigh YearCityResultsTeam1924Chamonix6 NQLodovico Obexer, Massimo Fink, Paolo Herbert, Giuseppe Steiner, Luis Trenker Luigi Tornielli di Borgolavezzaro, Adolfo Bocchi, Leonardo Bonzi, Alfredo Spasciani, Alberto Visconti1928St. Moritz21Giancarlo Morpugo, Carlo Sem, Luigi Cerutti, Giuseppe Crivelli, Piero Marchetti1932Lake Placid5Theo Rossi Di Montelera, Agostino Lanfranchi, Gaetano Lanfranchi, Italo Cassini1936Garmisch-Partenkirchen10NQTonino Brivio Sforza, Carlo Solveni, Emilio Dell'Oro, Raffaele MenardiFrancesco De Zanna, Ernesto Franceschi, Uberto Gillarduzzi, Amedeo Angeli1948St. Moritz611Nino Bibbia, Gian Carlo Ronchetti, Edilberto Campadese, Luigi Cavalieri Nino Rovelli, Enrico Airoldi, Vittorio Folonari, Remo Airoldi1952Oslo1014Dario Colombi, Dario Poggi, Sandro Rasini, Alberto Della Beffa Uberto Gillarduzzi, Michele Alverà, Vittorio Folonari, Luigi Cavalieri1956Cortina d'Ampezzo2 5Eugenio Monti, Ulrico Girardi, Renzo Alverà, Renato MocelliniDino De Martin, Giovanni De Martin, Giovanni Tabacchi, Carlo Da Prà1964Innsbruk3 4Eugenio Monti, Sergio Siorpaes, Benito Rigoni, Gildo SiorpaesSergio Zardini, Sergio Mocellini, Ferruccio Dalla Torre, Romano Bonagura1968Grenoble1 6Eugenio Monti, Luciano De Paolis, Roberto Zandonella, Mario ArmanoGianfranco Gaspari, Giuseppe Rescigno, Andrea Clemente, Leonardo Cavallini1972Sapporo2 8Nevio De Zordo, Adriano Frassinelli, Corrado Dal Fabbro, Gianni BonichonGianfranco Gaspari, Roberto Zandonella, Mario Armano, Luciano De Paolis1976Innsbruck1112Nevio De Zordo, Ezio Fiori, Roberto Porzia, Lino BenoniGiorgio Alverà, Piero Vegnuti, Adriano Bee, Francesco Butteri1980Lake Placid11Andrea Jory, Edmund Lanziner, Georg Werth, Giovanni Modena1984Sarajevo817Guerrino Ghedina, Stefano Ticci, Paolo Scaramuzza, Andrea MeneghinAlex Wolf, Georg Beikircher, Pasquale Gesuito, Umberto Prato1988Calgary1019Alex Wolf, Pasquale Gesuito, Georg Beikircher, Stefano TicciRoberto D'Amico, Thomas Rottensteiner, Paolo Scaramuzza, Andrea Meneghin1992Albertville1215Pasquale Gesuito, Antonio Tartaglia, Paolo Canedi, Stefano TicciGünther Huber, Marco Andreatta, Thomas Rottensteiner, Marcantonio Stiffi1994Lillehammer922Günter Huber, Antonio Tartaglia, Bernhard Mair, Mirco Ruggiero, Stefano TicciPasquale Gesuito, Paolo Canedi, Silvio Calcagno, Marcantonio Stiffi1998Nagano1420Günther Huber, Antonio Tartaglia, Massimiliano Rota, Marco MenchiniFabrizio Tosini, Andrea Pais de Libera, Enrico Costa, Sergio Chianella2002Nagano19Fabrizio Tosini, Andrea Pais de Libera, Massimiliano Rota, Giona Cividino2006Turin1112Fabrizio Tosini, Luca Ottolino, Antonio De Sanctis, Giorgio MorbidelliSimone Bertazzo, Samuele Romanini, Matteo Torchio, Omar Sacco2010Vancouver9TSimone Bertazzo, Danilo Santarsiero, Samuele Romanini, Mirko Turri2014Sochi18Simone Bertazzo, Simone Fontana, Samuele Romanini, Francesco Costa2018Pyeongchang27Simone Bertazzo, Simone Fontana, Francesco Costa, Lorenzo Bilotti 2022 Beijing 1527 Patrick Baumgartner, Lorenzo Bilotti, Eric Fantazzini, Alex VerginerRobert Gino Mircea, José Delmas Obou, Alex Pagnini, Mattia Variola 2026 Milano Cortina 5 Patrick Baumgartner, Lorenzo Bilotti, Eric Fantazzini, Robert Mircea

Men's two-man bobsleigh YearCityResultsTeam1932Lake Placid6 8Theo Rossi Di Montelera, Italo CassiniAgostino Lanfranchi, Gaetano Lanfranchi1936Garmisch-Partenkirchen1112Edgardo Vaghi, Dario PoggiTonino Brivio Sforza, Carlo Solveni1948St. Moritz68Mario Vitali, Dario PoggiNino Bibbia, Edilberto Campadese1952Oslo1012Alberto Della Beffa, Dario ColombiUberto Gillarduzzi, Luigi Cavalieri1956Cortina d'Ampezzo1 2 Lamberto Dalla Costa, Giacomo ContiEugenio Monti, Renzo Alverà1964Innsbruck2 3 Sergio Zardini, Romano BonaguraEugenio Monti, Sergio Siorpaes1968Grenoble1 12Eugenio Monti, Luciano De PaolisRinaldo Ruatti, Sergio Mocellini1972Sapporo410Gianfranco Gaspari, Mario ArmanoEnzo Vicario, Corrado Dal Fabbro1976Innsbruck816Giorgio Alverà, Franco PerruquetNevio De Zordo, Ezio Fiori1980Lake Placid1416Andrea Jory, Edmund LanzinerGiuseppe Soravia, Georg Werth1984Sarajevo79Guerrino Ghedina, Andrea MeneghinMarco Bellodis, Stefano Ticci1988Calgary1719Alex Wolf, Georg BeikircherIvo Ferriani, Stefano Ticci1992Albertville512Günther Huber, Stefano TicciPasquale Gesuito, Antonio Tartaglia1994Lillehammer3 9Günther Huber, Stefano TicciPasquale Gesuito, Antonio Tartaglia1998Nagano1T 14Günther Huber, Antonio TartagliaFabrizio Tosini, Enrico Costa2002Salt Lake City811TGünther Huber, Antonio TartagliaCristian La Grassa, Fabrizio Tosini2006Turin913Simone Bertazzo, Matteo TorchioSamuele Romanini, Fabrizio Tosini2010Vancouver17ACFabrizio Tosini, Sergio RivaSimone Bertazzo, Samuele Romanini2014Sochi14Simone Bertazzo, Simone Fontana2018PyeongchangNot attending 2022 Beijing 21 Patrick Baumgartner, Robert Gino Mircea 2026 Milano Cortina 7 Patrick Baumgartner, Robert Mircea

Women's two-woman bobsleigh YearCityResultsTeam2002Salt Lake City7Gerda Weissensteiner, Antonella Bellutti2006Turin3 12Gerda Weissensteiner, Jennifer IsaccoJessica Gillarduzzi, Fabiana Mollica2010Vancouver13Jessica Gillarduzzi, Laura Curione2014Sochinot attending2018Pyeongchangnot attending2022Beijingnot attending 2026 Milano Cortina 2023 Giada Andreutti, Alessia GattiSimona de Silvestro, Anna Costella

Women's monobob YearCityResultsTeam2022Beijing15Giada Andreutti 2026 Milano Cortina 2324 Simona de SilvestroGiada Andreutti

Olympic medals

Olympic medalists

BobsledderGoldSilverBronzeTotalEugenio Monti2226Luciano De Paolis2002Günther Huber1012Mario Armano1001Giacomo Conti1001Lamberto Dalla Costa1001Antonio Tartaglia1001Roberto Zandonella1001Renzo Alverà0202Romano Bonagura0101Gianni Bonichon0101Corrado Dal Fabbro0101Nevio De Zordo0101Adriano Frassinelli0101Ulrico Girardi0101Renato Mocellini0101Sergio Zardini0101Sergio Siorpaes0022Jennifer Isacco0011Benito Rigoni0011Gildo Siorpaes0011Stefano Ticci0011Gerda Weissensteiner0011

See also

Italy at the Olympics Rosso corsa Eugenio Monti olympic track Cesana Pariol

References

Bibliography

External links