Association | Federazione Italiana Sport Invernali |
---|---|
Team colors | |
Olympics | |
Appearances | 22 (first in 1924 ) |
Medals | Gold: 4 Silver: 4 Bronze: 4 |
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.
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. [1]
The Italian bobsleigh team debuted at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix with the five-man bobsleigh. [2]
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). [1]
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. [1]
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. [1]
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. [3] [2]
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. [4] 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. [5]
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. [2]
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. [2]
The largest number of Olympic medals (six) was won by Eugenio Monti, [2] known as the Rosso volante ('Flying Red'), in whose memory the Olympic track in Cortina d'Ampezzo was named.
Year | City | Results | Team |
---|---|---|---|
1924 | Chamonix | 6 NQ | Lodovico Obexer, Massimo Fink, Paolo Herbert, Giuseppe Steiner, Luis Trenker Luigi Tornielli di Borgolavezzaro, Adolfo Bocchi, Leonardo Bonzi, Alfredo Spasciani, Alberto Visconti |
1928 | St. Moritz | 21 | Giancarlo Morpugo, Carlo Sem, Luigi Cerutti, Giuseppe Crivelli, Piero Marchetti |
1932 | Lake Placid | 5 | Theo Rossi Di Montelera, Agostino Lanfranchi, Gaetano Lanfranchi, Italo Cassini |
1936 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | 10 NQ | Tonino Brivio Sforza, Carlo Solveni, Emilio Dell'Oro, Raffaele Menardi Francesco De Zanna, Ernesto Franceschi, Uberto Gillarduzzi, Amedeo Angeli |
1948 | St. Moritz | 6 11 | Nino Bibbia, Gian Carlo Ronchetti, Edilberto Campadese, Luigi Cavalieri Nino Rovelli, Enrico Airoldi, Vittorio Folonari, Remo Airoldi |
1952 | Oslo | 10 14 | Dario Colombi, Dario Poggi, Sandro Rasini, Alberto Della Beffa Uberto Gillarduzzi, Michele Alverà, Vittorio Folonari, Luigi Cavalieri |
1956 | Cortina d'Ampezzo | 2 5 | Eugenio Monti, Ulrico Girardi, Renzo Alverà, Renato Mocellini Dino De Martin, Giovanni De Martin, Giovanni Tabacchi, Carlo Da Prà |
1964 | Innsbruk | 3 4 | Eugenio Monti, Sergio Siorpaes, Benito Rigoni, Gildo Siorpaes Sergio Zardini, Sergio Mocellini, Ferruccio Dalla Torre, Romano Bonagura |
1968 | Grenoble | 1 6 | Eugenio Monti, Luciano De Paolis, Roberto Zandonella, Mario Armano Gianfranco Gaspari, Giuseppe Rescigno, Andrea Clemente, Leonardo Cavallini |
1972 | Sapporo | 2 8 | Nevio De Zordo, Adriano Frassinelli, Corrado Dal Fabbro, Gianni Bonichon Gianfranco Gaspari, Roberto Zandonella, Mario Armano, Luciano De Paolis |
1976 | Innsbruck | 11 12 | Nevio De Zordo, Ezio Fiori, Roberto Porzia, Lino Benoni Giorgio Alverà, Piero Vegnuti, Adriano Bee, Francesco Butteri |
1980 | Lake Placid | 11 | Andrea Jory, Edmund Lanziner, Georg Werth, Giovanni Modena |
1984 | Sarajevo | 8 17 | Guerrino Ghedina, Stefano Ticci, Paolo Scaramuzza, Andrea Meneghin Alex Wolf, Georg Beikircher, Pasquale Gesuito, Umberto Prato |
1988 | Calgary | 10 19 | Alex Wolf, Pasquale Gesuito, Georg Beikircher, Stefano Ticci Roberto D'Amico, Thomas Rottensteiner, Paolo Scaramuzza, Andrea Meneghin |
1992 | Albertville | 12 15 | Pasquale Gesuito, Antonio Tartaglia, Paolo Canedi, Stefano Ticci Günther Huber, Marco Andreatta, Thomas Rottensteiner, Marcantonio Stiffi |
1994 | Lillehammer | 9 22 | Günter Huber, Antonio Tartaglia, Bernhard Mair, Mirco Ruggiero, Stefano Ticci Pasquale Gesuito, Paolo Canedi, Silvio Calcagno, Marcantonio Stiffi |
1998 | Nagano | 14 20 | Günther Huber, Antonio Tartaglia, Massimiliano Rota, Marco Menchini Fabrizio Tosini, Andrea Pais de Libera, Enrico Costa, Sergio Chianella |
2002 | Nagano | 19 | Fabrizio Tosini, Andrea Pais de Libera, Massimiliano Rota, Giona Cividino |
2006 | Turin | 11 12 | Fabrizio Tosini, Luca Ottolino, Antonio De Sanctis, Giorgio Morbidelli Simone Bertazzo, Samuele Romanini, Matteo Torchio, Omar Sacco |
2010 | Vancouver | 9T | Simone Bertazzo, Danilo Santarsiero, Samuele Romanini, Mirko Turri |
2014 | Sochi | 18 | Simone Bertazzo, Simone Fontana, Samuele Romanini, Francesco Costa |
2018 | Pyeongchang | 27 | Simone Bertazzo, Simone Fontana, Francesco Costa, Lorenzo Bilotti |
2022 | Beijing | 15 27 | Patrick Baumgartner, Lorenzo Bilotti, Eric Fantazzini, Alex Verginer Robert Gino Mircea, José Delmas Obou, Alex Pagnini, Mattia Variola |
Year | City | Results | Team |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | Salt Lake City | 7 | Gerda Weissensteiner, Antonella Bellutti |
2006 | Turin | 3 12 | Gerda Weissensteiner, Jennifer Isacco Jessica Gillarduzzi, Fabiana Mollica |
2010 | Vancouver | 13 | Jessica Gillarduzzi, Laura Curione |
2014 | Sochi | not attending | |
2018 | Pyeongchang | not attending | |
2022 | Beijing | not attending |
Year | City | Results | Team |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Beijing | 15 | Giada Andreutti |
Bobsleigh | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
2-man | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
4-man | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
2-woman | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Totals (3 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
Bobsledder | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
Eugenio Monti | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
Luciano De Paolis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Günther Huber | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Mario Armano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Giacomo Conti | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Lamberto Dalla Costa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Antonio Tartaglia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Roberto Zandonella | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Renzo Alverà | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Romano Bonagura | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Gianni Bonichon | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Corrado Dal Fabbro | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Nevio De Zordo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Adriano Frassinelli | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Ulrico Girardi | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Renato Mocellini | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Sergio Zardini | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Sergio Siorpaes | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Jennifer Isacco | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Benito Rigoni | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Gildo Siorpaes | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Stefano Ticci | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Gerda Weissensteiner | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956, were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956.
Eugenio Monti was an Italian bobsledder and alpine skier. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the bobsleigh, with ten World championship medals and 6 Olympic medals including two golds. He is known also for his acts of sportsmanship during the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, which made him the first athlete ever to receive the Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy.
Victor Emery is a Canadian athlete and businessman. Emery was born in Montreal, Quebec. He is a gold medallist in the four man bobsleigh pilot from the 1964 Olympic Winter Games, as well as the 1965 World Championships.
Sport in Italy has a long tradition. In several sports, both individual and team, Italy has good representation and many successes. The most popular sport in Italy is football. Italy's national football team is one of the world's most successful teams with four FIFA World Cup victories and two UEFA Euro victories. Italian clubs have won 48 major European trophies, making Italy the second most successful country in European football. Italy's top-flight club football league is named Serie A and is followed by millions of fans around the world.
The Italian Ice Sports Federation, is the governing body for ice sports in Italy. It was founded in September 1926 to promote the practice of winter sports on ice and to coordinate events. The FISG is a member of a number of international sports organizations including the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the International Skating Union (ISU). The headquarter is in Milan.
The Italian Figure Skating Championships are a competition held annually to determine the national champions of Italy. Medals may be awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating.
The Italian National Olympic Committee, founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. Within Italy, CONI recognizes 48 national sports federations, 15 associate sports disciplines, 14 promotional sports organizations, and 19 organizations for the betterment of sports.
The FIBT World Championships 2011 took place 14 February – 27 February 2011 in Königssee, Germany, for the fifth time, doing so previously in 1979, 1986, and 1990 (skeleton), and 2004. In 2007, the championships were awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy over Winterberg Germany, but Cortina withdrew in February 2009 to a series of issues.
The Eugenio Monti Olympic Track was a bobsleigh and skeleton track located in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. It was named after Eugenio Monti (1928–2003), who won six bobsleigh medals at the Winter Olympic Games between 1956 and 1968 and ten medals at the FIBT World Championships between 1957 and 1966. It was featured in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, held after the 1981 FIBT World Championships, before the track was shortened to its current configuration. In January 2008, after one last bobsleigh race tournament, the track was closed.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation, is the winter sports federation for Italy. Part of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), it deals with all federations conducting sports for the Winter Olympics, including skiing, skating, biathlon, bobsleigh, and luge.
For the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, a total of eight sports venues were used. All of the venues used were new or rebuilt. To make use of television coverage for the first time in the Winter Olympics, the cross-country skiing stadium was constructed to allow the best coverage. Five of the venues used for these games would appear in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only twenty-five years later.
The 2013 Italian Figure Skating Championships was held in Milan from December 19 through 22, 2012. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating on the senior and junior levels. The results are among the criteria used to choose Italy's teams for ISU Championships. On 5 December 2012, the Italian federation released the final selection criteria for the 2013 World Championships, 2013 European Championships, and 2013 World Junior Championships.
The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games and also known as Milano Cortina 2026, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 in three regions, with the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo hosting. The joint bid from the two cities beat another joint bid from Swedish cities Stockholm–Åre by 47–34 votes at the 134th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 June 2019.
Enrico Calcaterra was an Italian ice hockey goaltender and executive. Calcaterra represented Italy internationally at four IIHF World Championships. In 1999, Calcaterra became the first Italian sportsperson to be inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. He is considered the pioneer of Italian hockey.
The list of the venues of the 2026 Winter Olympics were part of the candidacy file.
Stefania Menardi is an Italian curler.
The 2020 Italian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship was held from October 28, 2019 to January 26, 2020 in two stages: the group stage from October 28, 2019 to January 17, 2020 and the playoff stage from January 24 to 26, 2020.
Carlo Alessandro Zisa is an Italian curler and curling coach.
The Italian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship is the national championship of mixed doubles curling in Italy. It has been held annually since the 2007–2008 season. The championships are organized by the Italian Ice-Sports Federation.
The Blue Lake bobsleigh track was a bobsleigh track located near the Blue Lake in Breuil-Cervinia, a hamlet of the municipality of Valtournenche in the Aosta Valley, Italy. Built in 1963, the track hosted numerous international bobsleigh events until its final closure in 1991.