The Olympics Blog » Italy

Andrea Minguzzi Wins Gold Despite Protest

bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:25:00 +0000

This is apparently how Italian wrestler Andrea Minguzzi won his gold medal. Angry Olympian man and medal thrower, Ara Abrahamian, however believes that the medal belongs to him and not to this flag-waving Italian.

Photo credit: AP via thestar and beijing2008

Hottie Pellegrini Wins Fourth Gold Medal for Italy

bill — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:17:00 +0000

Ahh, Federica Pellegrini. You are geeky-looking sometimes but you are an Olympic hottie too. Congratulations on winning your first Olympic gold medal and the fourth gold medal for Italy.

Photo credit: federica pellegrini’s website

Gibilisco: He’s Back

bill — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:56:00 +0000

Former pole vault world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy is looking forward to the Beijing Olympic Games after his two-year suspension was rescinded last Friday, May 9.

He was banned by the Italian Athletics Federation last July for “having contact with” Italian doctor Carlo Santuccione, who has been linked to doping and is alleged to have provided illegal drugs to athletes. The Commission on Arbitration for Sports overturned this ban following an appeal by Gibilisco.

PHOTO SOURCE: AFP/Getty Images

Stefano Baldini’s Road to Beijing

bill — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:07:00 +0000

Here’s Italian marathoner and 2004 Athens gold medalist Stefano Baldini’s road to Beijing:

1. Participate in the 2008 London marathon as part of his Olympic preparation
2. Unfortunately develop a stress fracture in his left leg
3. Miss 30 days of training

It isn’t clear how much this reduced training period will affect Baldini’s goal to defend his Olympic title.

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

Olympic Medal Predictions: The Overall Winner

bill — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Who will emerge as the overall champion in the Beijing Olympics? According to Luciano Barra, the United States will retain its title while China will land in second place.

His projection, issued last December 2007, is as follows:

1. United States: 98 medals (47 gold)
2. China: 89 medals (38 gold)
3. Russia: 88 medals (32 gold)

Barra, an Olympic official from Italy, earlier predicted that China will top the gold medal race (China, 45; U.S., 41; and Russia, 34) but he revised his projection and came up with the one above.

Anyways, how did this Barra guy arrive at his numbers? It’s no rocket science, my friend, what he did pala is to look at the results in the most recent world championships. If there’s no world championships for a particular sport, he looked at the equivalent event for that sport.

That’s it? And to think that we thought he did some complicated statistical thing to come up with his projection. Apparently not. But we actually like his method. Sometimes, simple ways are better than complicated ways, no?

We still kind of think that China will emerge as the overall champ but we will know soon enough whether Barra got it right.

Buongiorno, friends in Italy!

P.S. Read the article about Barra’s projection here.