- Luigi Beccali
Luigi Beccali (
November 19 ,1907 -August 29 ,1990 ) was an Italian athlete, winner of 1500 m at the1932 Summer Olympics .Born in
Milan , Luigi Beccali, as a youth, was fascinated bycycling and track and field athletics, but choose the latter, when he met the coachDino Nai .Luigi Beccali, an Italian champion in 1500 m from 1928 to 1931, became a national hero overnight when he won the Olympic 1500 m gold at Los Angeles. While mounted on the victory platform he was the first person to give the Fascist salute.
In 1933, Beccali ran three
world record s. At first he equalled Jules Ladoumègue's world record 3:49.2, then lowered it to 3:49.0. At the end of the year he also set the convert|1000|yd|abbr=on world record of 2:10.0.Beccali won the 1500 m at the first European Championships in 1934, but was overrun by
Jack Lovelock at the1936 Summer Olympics , settling to the third place in 1500 m. He was again third in 1500 m at the European Championships in 1938. He also won the Italian championships from 1934 to 1938 in 1500 m and at 1935 in 5000 m.After his running career Beccali moved to
United States for job reasons and died inDaytona Beach, Florida .
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