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| Nationality | Italian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 1 December 1958 Inverigo, Italy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 58 kg (128 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country |  Italy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Long distance running | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Pro Patria Milano | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Giorgio Rondelli | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Alberto Cova (born 1 December 1958) is a retired Italian long-distance track athlete, winner of the 10,000 m at the 1984 Summer Olympics and 1983 World Championships.
Born in Inverigo, province of Como, Italy, Alberto Cova was characterized by his superiority in the sprint finish, and the only way to nullify this was to set a very fast pace from the start to finish. Cova got his first fame at the 1982 European Championships in Athens, where he surprisingly outsprinted the main favourite Werner Schildhauer from East Germany, to win his first international championship title. In the next year, Cova wasn't the main favourite at the first World Championships held in Helsinki, being considered only as a possible medal winner. The 10,000 m final at Helsinki was run in slow pace, with thirteen runners still in a leading pack at the bell. With only 30 metres to go, Cova was only in fifth place, but then sprinted forward to win. Schildhauer finished in second place. The top four runners sprinted to the finish line in 0.33 seconds (see Yleisurheilun MM-kisat Helsingissä / Athletics World Championships in Helsinki, edited by the Juoksija/Runner magazine, Helsinki: 1983).
The 10,000 m final at the Los Angeles Olympics began at an even slower pace than at Helsinki. At the 6 km mark, Martti Vainio from Finland, picked up the speed. Cova managed to follow him, and Vainio couldn't sustain his own pace, so Cova swept past him after the bell and sprinted to the line to win his last international title (see, for example, Tapio Pekola et al., eds., Suuri Suomalainen Olympiakirja/The Great Finnish Olympic Book, Helsinki: Juoksija-lehti (Runner magazine)/Laaseri, 1984).
At the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, Cova was beaten at his own game, when he was outsprinted by fellow countryman Stefano Mei on the last lap of the 10,000 m final. Cova never won a major race after that, and came tenth in his heat (thereby failing to qualify for the final) at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. This was his last international competition.
In the 1983 World Athletics Championships 10,000-metre final, there actually were seven men in the lead group at the bell (see the related video clip "Finns Near the Top" / Suomalaisia lähellä huippua in the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation YLE's Living Archives / Elävä arkisto, with the following links: Sports / Urheilu, Athletics / Yleisurheilu, World Championships / MM-kisat, 1983 World Championships / MM-kisat 1983; the website is www.yle.fi/elavaarkisto/). In the 1984 Olympics 10,000-metre final, Finland's Martti Vainio picked up the speed shortly before the 6 kilometre mark (see, for instance, The Great Olympic Book / Suuri Olympiateos, volume 4, published in Finland in 1984).
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | European Cup (Super League) |  Zagreb | 6th | 5000 m | 13:45.48 | |
| 1982 | European Indoor Championships | Milan | 2nd | 3000 m | 7:54.12 | |
| European Championships |  Athens | DSQ | 5000 m | No time | [N 1] | |
| 1st | 10,000 m | 27:41.03 | ||||
| 1983 | World Championships |  Helsinki | 1st | 10,000 m | 28:01.04 | [N 2] |
| European Cup (Super League) |  London | 3rd | 5000 m | 13:55.59 | ||
| 2nd | 10,000 m | 28:02.13 | ||||
| 1984 | Olympic Games |  Los Angeles | 1st | 10,000 m | 27:47.54 | |
| 1985 | European Cup (Super League) |  Moscow | 1st | 5000 m | 14:05.45 | |
| 1st | 10,000 m | 28:51.46 | ||||
| 1986 | European Championships |  Stuttgart | 8th | 5000 m | 13:35,86 | [N 3] |
| 2nd | 10,000 m | 27:57.93 | [N 4] [1] | |||
| 1988 | Olympic Games |  Seoul | Heat | 10,000 m | 28:43.84 |
He won fourteen national championships at senior level. [2] [3]
Carlos Alberto de Sousa Lopes, GCIH is a Portuguese former long-distance runner.
John Treacy is an Irish Olympian and former athlete, now a sporting administrator.
Markus Ryffel is a former long-distance runner from Switzerland who won the silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Thomas Wessinghage is a German former middle- and long-distance runner who won the 1982 European Championships' final over 5000 metres beating the British world-record holder David Moorcroft. Because he was already thirty at the time, and had been an international-level runner for a decade, this victory was a long-awaited one for him. He admitted that he decided to run the 5,000 metres instead of the 1,500 metres, because he lost to Ovett and Coe so often in the shorter distance. The fairly slow pace of the 1982 European Athletics Championships 5,000-metre final favoured Wessinghage, because he was in top form - having set a European record at 2,000 metres shortly before the Championships - and because he was the fastest 1,500-metre runner in the final, having run that distance in 3 minutes 31.6 seconds in 1980. Shortly after he started his final sprint with over 250 metres to go, Wessinghage moved into a decisive lead, stretching it into five metres by 4,800 metres and almost doubling it by 4,900 metres.
Salvatore Antibo is a former long-distance runner from Italy.
Douglas Padilla is a former middle and long distance runner from the United States, who won the overall Grand Prix 1985 and the World Cup 5000m race in 1985. He finished fifth in the 5000m final at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, and seventh in the 5000m final at the 1984 Summer Olympics. In the 1983 World Championships 5,000-metre final, Padilla was among the favourites, but he succumbed to the radically accelerating pace of top runners, such as Ireland's Eamonn Coghlan, East Germany's Werner Schildhauer and Finland's Martti Vainio, during the last lap. He lost to the winner, Coghlan, by 3.55 seconds, but managed to defeat another unlucky favourite, West Germany's Thomas Wessinghage, by 0.38 seconds. By contrast, the fast 1984 Olympic 5,000-metre final was tough for Padilla already after 3,000 metres, and he painstakingly defeated New Zealand's John Walker who finished eighth. He was ranked number 1 in the world in 1983 for the 3000-meter distance.
Hans-Peter Ferner is a (West) German former middle-distance runner who won the gold medal over 800 m at the 1982 European Championships in Athletics in Athens where he unexpectedly defeated world-record holder Sebastian Coe. Those were Ferner's second and last European Athletics Championships, because he had competed already in the 1978 European Championships in Prague, where he had been eliminated in the 800-metre heats or semifinals. Coe had suffered from injuries and a glandular sickness which made him underachieve in Athens.
Werner Schildhauer is a retired German track and field athlete, who represented the former East Germany at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow in the 10,000 meter run and placed 7th behind his teammate Jörg Peter.
Hansjörg Kunze is a German track and field athlete. He represented East Germany as a long distance runner.
Martti Olavi Vainio is a Finnish former long-distance runner. In Finland he is recognized as the last of the great runners of the famous "V-line", the previous ones being Juha Väätäinen, Lasse Virén, and Pekka Vasala. Each of them won at least one gold medal either at the Summer Olympics or the European Athletics Championships in the 1970s. Vainio's accomplishments are tarnished though, for testing positive for PEDs on at least two occasions. One of those events was the 1984 Olympic Games where he was disqualified and stripped of his medal and later suspended from sport.
Fernando Eugénio Pacheco Mamede, ComM is a former Portuguese athlete, a long distance running specialist. He was born in Beja. Together with Carlos Lopes, he is one of the best Portuguese male long distance runners ever, and held the 10,000 metres world record (1984-1989) with a time of 27:13.81 until bettered by Arturo Barrios of Mexico. He also competed at three Olympic Games. However, he never won any high-level competition as he dealt very badly with pressure.
These are the official results of the men's 10,000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total number of 37 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats held on Sunday 7 August and the final held on Tuesday 9 August 1983.
Christoph Herle is a retired West German long-distance runner who specialized in the 10000 metres and cross-country running. His first major international track race occurred in the 1978 European Athletics Championships in Prague, former Czechoslovakia, where he placed fourteenth in the 5,000-metre final. He ran slightly better in the 1982 European Athletics Championships 5,000-metre final in Athens, Greece, placing thirteenth. Herle ran best in 1983 and 1984, placing eighth at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres in Helsinki, Finland, and fifth at the final in the Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres final in Los Angeles, the United States. He never managed to break through to the very top of international long-distance runners, however. His final major international championships race was the 1986 European Athletics Championships 10,000-metre race in Stuttgart, then West Germany, where he placed a disappointed fifteenth.
These are the official results of the Men's 10,000 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There were a total number of 41 participating athletes. The event took place between 3 and 6 August.
These are the official results of the Men's 5000 metres event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
These are the official results of the Men's 5,000 metres event at the 1987 IAAF World Championships in Rome, Italy. There were a total of 36 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats and the final held on Sunday September 6, 1987.
These are the official results of the Men's 5,000 metres event at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany, held at Neckarstadion on 28 and 31 August 1986. There were a total number of 28 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats.
These are the official results of the Men's 5,000 metres event at the 1982 European Championships in Athens, Greece, held at Olympic Stadium "Spiros Louis" on 8 and 11 September 1982.
These are the official results of the Men's 5000 metres event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. There were a total number of 34 participating athletes, with the final held on Friday 1 August 1980.
These are the official results of the men's 5000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total of 39 participating athletes, with three qualifying heats, two semi-finals and the final held on Sunday 14 August 1983.
