The Olympic Dictionary 40 D'inzeo PIERO
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The Olympic Dictionary D D’INZEO PIERO AND RAIMONDO (equestrian, Italy, Piero b. Rome 4/3/1923; Raimondo b. Poggio Mirteto, RI, 8/2/1925). Piero: 8 Olympics (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976), 2 silver medals (team jumping 1956, individual jumping 1960), 4 bronze medals (individual jumping 1956, team jumping 1960, 1964 and 1972). Raimondo: 8 Olympics (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976), one gold medal (individual jumping 1960), 2 silver medals (individual jumping 1956, team jumping 1956), 3 bronze medals (team jumping 1960, 1964, 1972). Piero: 1956 0-1-1, 1960 0-1-1, 1964 0-0-1, 1972 0-0-1. Raimondo: 1956 0-2-0, 1960 1-0-1, 1964 0- 0-1, 1972 0-0-1. Italian record holders in terms of Olympic appearances (eight consecutive Games, from 1948 to 1976), the D’Inzeo brothers began show jumping under the tuition of their father Carlo Costante, police officer and a respected instructor. When they were respectively 8 (Piero) and 6 (Raimondo), they became their father’s first pupils: Carlo ran the show jumping school at the Opera Nazionale Balilla in Rome, with the pony ridden by Mussolini’s children. Both embarked on a military career in the Carabinieri. The two brothers had different characters and personalities: Piero was cool and logical, while Raimondo was imaginative and impulsive. They were rivals and allies during their long competitive career, which for both began at international level in 1947. In their first appearance at the Games, in London, 1948, Raimondo ended up 30th overall, competing in the eventing course with a protective helmet, while Piero was part of the team that was unable to complete the show jumping event. Things went better in Helsinki, 1952, when Raimondo came ninth in the individual show jumping event, and Piero came sixth in the individual 3-day eventing. The first medals arrived four years later in Stockholm, where the equestrian events for the Melbourne Games were held due to the impossibility of getting the horses to Australia in time because of the strict regulations that set the quarantine period at six months. In Sweden, together with Salvatore Oppes, they won the silver medal for team show jumping, behind Germany, while in the individual jumping competition, Raimondo came second, Piero third. In 1960, the Rome Olympics, they achieved the best results of their career, Raimondo winning in individual show jumping, with his brother second. They won team show jumping bronze at each of the four successive Olympics, except for the Mexico City Games in 1968, where they came fifth. As well as the Olympic medals, Raimondo was world champion twice, and also won a world championship silver and bronze; Piero (one gold 1959, 3 European silvers) is the only Italian to have won the prestigious King George V Gold Cup three consecutive times (1957-61-62). Both remained in the world of show jumping after ending their competitive careers: Raimondo was in a number of positions at the Federation, leading the national team at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and attempting to bring the sport up to date: “I am all in favour of riding in jeans, very comfortable”, he said in 1979. “I am also in favour of sponsorship. I think that riding without a red or blue jacket should be permitted, at least in regional events. Riders should be referred to using just name and surname, no titles”. Piero ran a military riding school, and played polo in a team with his son Giancarlo. D’ORIOLA CHRISTIAN (fencing, France, b. Perpignan 3/10/1928, d. Nîmes 30/10/2007). Four Olympics (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960), 4 golds (individual foil 1952 and 1956, team foil 1948 and 1952) and 2 silvers (individual foil 1948, team foil 1956) medals. 1948 1-1-0, 1952 2-0-0, 1956 1- 1-0. He reached the final pool in the individual competition 4 times out of 4: silver in 1948, gold in 1952 winning all his 8 matches; gold again in 1956 (with 6 victories and one defeat) after having had a few problems getting used to the electric foil; and in 1960 in Rome, he came 8th. He was 40 The Olympic Dictionary world foil champion four times (in 1947, at the age of 19, the youngest of all time, and again in 1949-53-54), also winning an individual foil silver, plus 4 gold (1947-51-53-58) and four silver medals for team foil. At the age of 42, in 1970, he once again won the French title for team épée. After retiring, he became an international fencing judge and later vice president of the French Federation. His cousin Pierre Jonquères won 2 gold and 2 silver medals in Olympic show jumping. D’ORIOLA PIERRE JONQUÈRES (equestrian, France, b. Corneilla-del-Vercol 1/2/1920). Five Olympics (1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968), 2 gold (individual show jumping, 1952 and 1964) and 2 silver medals (team jumping, 1964 and 1968). 1952 1-0-0, 1964 1-1-0, 1968 0-1-0. His cousin Christian won a gold medal in individual foil in Helsinki, wearing a lucky white hat. He asked his cousin to lend it to him, and ten days later he also won a gold medal, riding Ali Baba and winning a tie-break between five riders, with a clean round, after having ended level with the others with 8 penalties. Twelve years later he repeated this success, on Lutteur B. His other individual positions: 6th in 1956, 18th in 1960 and 17th in 1968. In 1966, on Pomone B, he became the first French world champion, after a silver (1954) and a bronze (1953) medal. He also won a European silver medal (1959) and 4 French titles (1954-56-58-59), totalling over 500 victories in 25 years of international competition. Then he returned to vine-growing. DAMIAN-ANDRUNACHE GEORGETA (rowing, Romania, b. Botoşani 14/4/1976). Two Olympics (2000, 2004) and 4 gold medals (coxless pair in 2000 and 2004, eight in 2000 and 2004). 2000 2-0-0, 2004 2-0-0. She has also won 6 gold medals (eight, 1997-98-99-2007, coxless pair 2001-02), 3 silvers and a bronze in the world championships. DAMILANO MAURIZIO (track & field, Italy, b. Scarnafigi, Cuneo, 6/4/1957). Four Olympics (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992), one gold (20 km walk, 1980) and 2 bronze (20 km walk, 1984 and 1988) medals. 1980 1-0-0, 1984 0-0-1, 1988 0-0-1. He won the gold medal in Moscow with a time of 1h23:35.5, 1:09.9 ahead of the Soviet Pochinchuk and almost 10’ in front of his twin brother Giorgio, 11th, trained, like him, by his other brother Sandro (“I am 10 minutes older than Giorgio, I paid him back the difference…”). The race walk judges disqualified the Mexican Bautista, who was in the lead and had won gold medal four years earlier; and shortly after, the Soviet Solomin, who had taken the lead, was also disqualified. “I didn’t notice what was happening at first, I thought that Solomin was vomiting, because in that heat and humidity we all had stomach problems”. In 1984, Maurizio (who had started race walking, with Giorgio, after having met some Milanese enthusiasts of the sport in a college of St. Vincent missionaries) won the bronze medal in Los Angeles, where he challenged the judges’ rulings: “when I was in the lead, they gave me a warning three times, towards the 16th km. I was controlling the race, I slowed down and the two Mexicans overtook me, because they ignored the warnings”. Damilano took another bronze at Seoul in 1988, and came 4th at Barcelona in 1992. His medals also include two world championship golds for the 20 km walk (1987-91), a silver medal for the indoor 5 km world championships (1985), a European silver medal for the 20 km walk (1986), a European gold medal (1982) and a silver (1981) for the 5 km walk; and 21 Italian titles, both indoor (1), track (6) and road (14) race walks from 5 to 50 km. He set 9 world records and best performances in track events, as well as winning 12 European and 37 Italian records. DANIELS CHARLES MELDRUM (swimming, USA, b. Dayton, Ohio, 24/3/1885, d. Carmel Valley, California, 9/8/1973). Three Olympics (1904, 1906, 1908), 5 gold medals (220 yards freestyle in 1904, 440 yards freestyle in 1904, 4x50 yards freestyle in 1904, 100 m freestyle in 1906 and 1908), one silver (100 yards freestyle in 1904) and 2 bronze medals (50 yards freestyle in 1904, 4x200 freestyle in 1908). 1904 3-1-1, 1906 1-0-0, 1908 1-0-1. He trained in Stony Creek Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains, and, comparing his times with those of the winners of races in New York, he found that he was at least as fast. When he was beaten by the captain of the Yale 41 The Olympic Dictionary swimming team, he returned home disappointed, measured his course again and discovered that it was 90 yards instead of 100. He trained harder, and succeeded in winning 5 Olympic gold medals. He was responsible for developing the American crawl, modifying the two kick-beat Australian crawl. He held all world records from 25 yards to the mile (in 1905 he set 14 records in just 4 days). He won 37 American titles and obtained a total of 314 medals and cups. He was a national junior rifle champion, and a squash champion at the New York Athletic Club.