Leonardo, Raffaello

Raffaello Leonardo was born on May 1, 1973 in Naples , Italy . He started rowing at the age of thirteen in 1987, at various times he trained at such clubs as Fiamme Oro, Posillipo Napoli, Aniene CC.

He first made himself known on the international scene in the 1990 season, when he joined the Italian national team and attended the World Championship among juniors Egbelet, from where he brought the silver dignity award won in four oar with steering. A year later, at similar competitions in Banyoles, he won the silver medal in four doubles.

Thanks to a series of successful performances, he was awarded the right to defend the country's honor at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona - in the offset of the eights he managed to qualify only for the comforting final “B” and was located in the final protocol of the competitions on the ninth line.

In 1994, in the four oar steeringless he won the world championship in Indianapolis . The next season he repeated this achievement at the world championship in Tampere .

Being among the leaders of the rowing team of Italy, I successfully passed the selection for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta - this time I managed to get into the finals in the program of wheelless fours, where I finished sixth later.

In 2000, he went to represent the country at the Sydney Olympics , took the fourth place in the eights, not quite reaching the prize positions.

At the 2002 World Cup in Seville, he became a bronze medalist in the four-wheelless.

In 2004, he won the bronze medal in the quadruple without steering at the Olympic Games in Athens . For this outstanding achievement, he was awarded the Order of Merit to the Italian Republic in the degree of a gentleman ^[1] .

He successfully performed at the World Championships in Gifu , where he received silver in the classification of eights.

He qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing , performed here in wheelless deuces, but was far from being among the prize winners, becoming the eleventh.

After the fifth Olympic Games in his career, Raffaello Leonardo remained in the Italian national team for another Olympic cycle and continued to take part in major international competitions. So, in 2009, he won the eights program at the World Cup stage in Banyoles, later performed at the World Championships and two European Championships, ending his professional career at the end of the 2010 season.

• Raffaello Leonardo - profile on the FISA website
• Raffaello Leonardo - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
• Raffaello Leonardo (English) - page on the website of the International Olympic Committee