Oleg Antonov, Emanuele Birarelli, Simone Buti, Massimo Colaci, Simone Giannelli, Osmany Juantorena, Filippo Lanza, Matteo Piano, Salvatore Rossini, Pasquale Sottile, Luca Vettori, Ivan Zaytsev - Volleyball - Silver.
The curse of Olympic gold continues for Italvolley, who lose their third final at the Games in twenty years: after Atlanta '96 and Athens 2004, the Azzurri give up once again one step away from glory, losing 3-0 against hosts of Brazil. However, the image of a beautiful tournament remains, conducted and concluded beyond all wildest expectations.
Frank Chamizo – Wrestling – Bronze.
The Cuban-born athlete struggles with a sprained left elbow, defeats American Frank Aniello Molinaro 5-3 and takes the bronze medal after disappointment in the semifinals. "I wanted the gold for Italy which gave me another life", he said almost feeling guilty, but his is a beautiful podium that arrives on the last day: the eighth bronze, the 27th medal Italian.
Stefano Tempesti, Francesco Di Fulvio, Niccolò Gitto, Pietro Figlioli, Alessandro Velotto, Michaël Bodegas, Andrea Fondelli, Valentino Gallo, Christian Presciutti, Nicholas Presciutti, Matteo Aicardi, Alessandro Nora, Marco Del Lungo – Water Polo – Bronze.
The Settebello returns to the Olympic podium four years after London, when it reached the final and was silver. This time he won a splendid bronze, after taming Montenegro 12-10. The Azzurri of water polo have won 3 Olympic gold medals and 3 world gold medals in history. In this case it is medal number 26 for Italy, the week of bronze.
Laura Teani, Elisa Queirolo, Roberta Bianconi, Giulia Emmolo, Rosaria Aiello, Federica Radicchi, Arianna Garibotti, Giulia Gorlero, Teresa Frassinetti, Aleksandra Cotti, Francesca Pomeri, Chiara Tabani and Tania Di Mario – Water Polo – Silver.
Setterosa could do nothing in the face of the US superpower, and clearly lost the final 11-4. But it's still a splendid silver, twelve years after the gold in Athens, for coach Conti's girls, who brought Italy back to an Olympic final against all odds. Medal number 25 for the Azzurri in Rio, the eleventh silver.
Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai – Beach Volleyball – Silver.
The first, historic blue beach volleyball medal is silver. The splendid Olympic adventure of Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai ends with a defeat in front of the favorites of the tournament, the Brazilians Alison and Bruno Schmidt, who ended the practice in two sets, even if fought, to zero.
Elia Viviani – Track cycling – Gold.
the Veronese brings Italian track cycling back into the Olympic elite, putting the most precious metal around his neck four years after the most atrocious hoax of his career, when in London he finished from first to sixth in the last round of the omnium in London, from the dream of a podium close at hand to the nightmare of an Olympic medal in front of his nose. This time however he does it and is the medal number 23, the eighth gold.
Rachele Bruni – Swimming – Silver.
Rachele, 25, does better than Martina Grimaldi's historic bronze medal in 2012 in the same specialty, the 10 km in open water, and gives Italy the 22nd medal. The dedication went to her partner Diletta.
Paolo Pizzo, Marco Fichera, Enrico Garozzo and Andrea Santarelli – Fencing – Silver.
Nothing to do for the epee boys in the team competition, who yield to the favorite France in the final. However, a splendid medal remains, secured already in the afternoon thanks to an unexpected victory in the semifinal against Ukraine. The fencing balance ends with 4 medals.
Tania Cagnotto – Diving – Bronze.
In the end, Tania Cagnotto did it: after an extraordinary career full of satisfactions, she finally hits the individual Olympic medal, at the third attempt after the failed ones in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, when she finished fourth by 20 hundredths of a point. This time the athlete from Bolzano, father Giorgio's daughter in art who won two silver and three bronze medals at the Olympics in the era of Klaus Dibiasi's triumphs, did it: and so a few days later the splendid silver paired with Francesca Dallapè in synchro, he conquered the coveted individual bronze, behind the unattainable Chinese.
Niccolò Campriani – Shooting – Gold.
The Florentine shooter scores a double, or rather a hat-trick considering also the gold in London 2012 won in the same race, that of the three-position rifle, which gave him the top step of the podium for the second time in Rio 2016. It is the fourth for him medal at the Olympics: it's in the legend.
Gregorio Paltrinieri and Gabriele Detti – Swimming, 1.500 free sl – Gold and bronze.
Blue double in the 1500m freestyle swimming: Gregorio Paltrinieri and Gabriele Detti win medals number 17 and 18 of the Italian expedition to Rio, and it is a splendid gold and a bronze in comeback. It is only the fifth time that an Italian has won gold in swimming at the Games, after Fioravanti (two) and Rosolino in Sydney 2000 and Pellegrini in Beijing 2008. The gold-bronze double had only been achieved once, always in Sydney with Fioravanti and Rummolo in the 200 breaststroke.
Gabriele Rossetti – Clay pigeon shooting – Gold.
Gabriele Rossetti, who turned 21 in March, gives Italy the gold of skeet, the 16th medal of this expedition, the 5th of the most precious metal. Better than Papa Bruno did in Barcelona '92, which won bronze. Rossetti, very young, was perfect in the final, where he didn't miss a single shot!
Diana Bacosi and Chiara Cainero – Skeet shooting – Gold and silver.
First double for Italy in these Olympics: in the past it was fencing several times, this time to clay pigeon shooting, a women's skeet specialty. The pupil surpassed the teacher: the gold went to newcomer Diana Bacosi, who defeated the other blue medalist in the final for the gold medal, the veteran Chiara Cainero, already gold medalist in Beijing 2008 in this race.
Giuseppe Vicino, Matteo Castaldo, Matteo Lodo and Domenico Montrone – Rowing – Bronze.
After the coxless 2, the coxless 4 is on the podium again, for another bronze medal which is the thirteenth in total for Italy. The blue quartet was eagerly awaited but could do nothing against the excessive power of Great Britain and Australia: the British boat even finished under 6 minutes, while our boys posted a time of 6.03.85, at the end of a crazy comeback over South Africa in the last 500 meters of the course.
Giovanni Abagnale and Marco Di Costanzo – Rowing – Bronze.
The two young Azzurri amazed, in a match, that of the coxless, in which the gold was practically already assigned to the very favorite New Zealand: for them a beautiful bronze medal arrived behind the unbeatable New Zealanders Eric Murray and Hamish Bond and South Africans Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling.
Elisa Di Francisca – Foil – Silver.
The race of the London Olympic champion stops one step away from the encore who, after avoiding the fratricidal derby with Errigo, defeated the Tunisian Boubakri in the semifinal, before surrendering to the Russian Inna Deriglazova with a score of 12 to 11, after an exhilarating comeback attempt.
Marco Innocenti – Clay pigeon shooting – Silver.
After the second place conquered by Giovanni Pellielo in the trap, it's Marco Innocenti's turn in the double trap: the 37-year-old from Prato is at his first participation in the Games and immediately scored, losing only in the final for the gold to the expert shooter of Kuwait Fehaid Aldeehani. It is the tenth medal for the blue expedition, the fifth in silver.
Giovanni Pelliello – Clay pigeon shooting – Silver.
It is the fourth Olympic medal for the veteran of the blue expeditions, now in his seventh participation in the Games. The fourth overall and the third silver medal for the forty-six year old from Vercelli, who continues to miss out on gold in the final. This time the defeat came only in the play-offs, against the Croatian Josip Glasnovic.
Niccolò Campriani – Shooting – Gold.
Former Olympic champion in London 2012 (where he had also won a silver medal), he repeated in Rio 2016: he is once again the gold medal in rifle shooting, in the specialty – the 10m air rifle – where in the previous edition of the Games he had finished in second place.
Daniele Garozzo – Men's foil – Gold.
The umpteenth triumph of the Italian school of fencing, undoubtedly the best in the world, results in hand. The 24-year-old from Acireale took over the world at his first Olympics, overturning the odds and beating the American Alexander Massalas in the final.
Fabio Basile – Judo 66 Kg – Gold.
Another successful Italian school, and another golden story. The blue Judo, who has been on the podium without interruption since Montreal 1976, and Fabio Basile, who at his first Olympics, at the age of just 21, defeated the Korean Baul An in just over a minute, winning the gold medal number 200 of Italian history at the Olympics, the first of the Rio edition. A milestone that, so far, only six other nations had passed.
Odette Giuffrida – Judo 52 kg – Silver.
Italian Judo is also a woman. Specifically it is Odette Giuffrida, 21 years old from Rome, also at the first Olympics. She who leaves with a silver medal around her neck and with that joy with a bitter aftertaste that a defeat on points, in the final, can leave you one step away from triumph. Beating the young athlete from Montesacro was Majlinda Kelmendi, who conquered the first gold for Kosovo, in the nation's historic first participation in an Olympics.
Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallapé – Diving 3 meters – Silver
Maybe the wait made it sweeter. After so many Olympic disappointments, and after 39 medals between European and World Championships, one of most awaited Italian athletes, Tania Cagnotto, wins her first Olympic medal, and it doesn't matter if it's "alone", so to speak, silver, also because in front there was the unreachable Chinese couple made up of Shi Tingmao and Wu Minxia. For Italy, this is the first Olympic medal ever for women's diving. Considering also the men, there have been no medals since 1980. The last to win: Giorgio Cagnotto, Tania's father. With her was her lifelong companion Francesca Dallapè. Also for her a very sweet silver, four years after the wooden medal won in London.
Elisa Longo Borghini – Road cycling – Bronze.
The 24-year-old Elisa Longo Borhini climbed to the lowest step of the podium, at the end of a very tough race. For the cyclist, one splendid third place behind Van der Breggen (gold) and the Swedish Johansson (silver). At the finish, the Italian athlete burst into tears of joy.
Gabriele Detti – 400 SL – Bronze.
A bronze that is worth a lot, that of the 21-year-old from Livorno, in a race in which it was objectively difficult to ask for more. The maximum possible result, therefore, and also a good revenge for a boy recovering from a bad 2015, in which he had to miss the World Cup in Kazan due to a urinary tract infection.
Rossella Fiammingo - Feminine sword - Silver.
The beautiful fencer from Catania was the first Italian to win a medal. After an incredible comeback in the semifinals, the Catania born in 1991, world champion in 2014 and 2015, lost in the final against the Hungarian Emese Szasz. With some regrets, despite the great result: Fiammingo was ahead by 11 hits to 7.
Here instead, going back in time, all the insights dedicated by FIRSTonline to the Rio Olympics 2016:
Rio 2016: Vanessa Ferrari, one step further and the medal vanishes
Rio 2016, in golf it is European double
Rio 2016, Paltrinieri's gold cancels Pellegrini's disappointment
Federica Pellegrini, "it can't end like this"
Phelps, no one like him: 21 gold medals
Rio 2016: Nibali true champion but what a bad luck
Olympics: all the stars of Rio 2016, from Bolt to Phelps and Pellegrini
Rio 2016 Olympics: the curtain rises on the Games, the program of all the competitions
Federica Pellegrini and the others: the Italian stars in Rio
Rio 2016 Olympics: between expenses and scandals, the first time for a country in recession
2016 Olympics: How much will the Rio Games cost? Here are the full figures
Rio 2016 Olympics, golf and rugby 7: will it be true glory?
Brazil, no Olympic medal for economy
Rio 2016 Olympics, chronicle of an announced disaster
