Farewell to Livio Berruti, Olympic champion at the 1960 Rome Games
Following a period of illness, he died at the age of 87 in a clinic in Turin
Farewell to Livio Berruti. Following an illness, the 200-metre Olympic champion at the 1960 Rome Games has died at the age of 87 in a clinic in Turin. ANSA has learnt this from sources close to the family. Berruti is survived by his wife, Silvia. The funeral is to be held in private. Following his competitive career, he worked in the communications sector. In 2006, he was one of eight Italians to carry the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, his home city.
Born in Turin on 19 May 1939, Berruti took up athletics in 1955 at the Cavour High School, becoming the fastest runner at the school. He hoped – as FIDAL recalls in its biography – to be able to play his beloved tennis by attending the Lancia sports centre, but his results in sprint events prompted him to persevere with athletics. Just a few years later, he became an Olympic champion, the first European sprinter to triumph in this event. It all happened on 3 September 1960 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome: in the space of just two hours, he ran the semi-final in 20.5 seconds, equalling the world record, and then won the final in the same time, ahead of the American Lester Carney (20.6) and the Frenchman of Senegalese origin Abdou Seye (20.7).
Following his victory in Rome, he received 800,000 lire from CONI for the gold medal, 400,000 lire for the world record and a ‘500’ as a gift from Fiat. At the Tokyo Olympic Games, four years later, he ran the same distance in the unfavourable outside lane, finishing fifth and once again top among the Europeans (20.83), in a race won by the American Henry Carr in 20.36. Livio Berruti’s name appears on one of the plaques on the Italian Sport Walk of Fame in Rome, selected by CONI to honour the legends who have shaped the history of Italian sport.
