Sara Simeoni

Sara Simeoni in 1973
Personal information
Born	(1953-04-19) 19 April 1953 (age 70) Rivoli Veronese, Italy
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	60 kg (132 lb)
Sport
Country	Italy
Sport	Athletics
Event	High jump
Club	CS Fiat Torino, Lib. Ligabò Verona, Fiat Iveco, Francesco Francia Bologna[1]
Coached by	Erminio Azzaro
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	1976, 1980, 1984
Regional finals	1974, 1978, 1982
Personal best	2.01 m (1978)[1]
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 2 0 European Championships 1 0 2 European Indoor Championships 4 0 0 Universiade 2 1 2 Mediterranean Games 2 0 0 World Cup 0 2 0 European Cup 0 1 0 Total 10 6 4 Olympic Games 1980 Moscow High Jump 1976 Montreal High Jump 1984 Los Angeles High Jump European Championships 1978 n Prague High jump 1974 Rome High jump 1982 Athens High jump European Indoor Championships 1977 San Sebastian High jump 1978 Milan High jump 1980 Sindelfingen High jump 1981 Grenoble High jump Universiade 1977 Sofia High jump 1981 Bucharest High jump 1975 Rome High jump 1973 Moscow High jump 1979 Mexico City High jump Mediterranean Games 1975 Algiers High jump 1979 Split High jump World Cup 1977 Düsseldorf High jump 1979 Montreal High jump European Cup – Final A 1979 Turin High jump European Cup – Final B 1977 Helsinki High jump 1981 Zagreb High jump

Sara Simeoni (born 19 April 1953) is an Italian former high jumper, who won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics and twice set a world record in the women's high jump.

Biography

Sara Simeoni was born in Rivoli Veronese, in the province of Verona. She soon took up athletics, specialising in the high jump. Her first international result was at the 1971 European Championships in Helsinki, where she ended 9th with a 178 cm jump. Her first international success was at the 1976 in Montreal, where she won a silver medal, with a personal best of 1.91 m, and was beaten only by Rosemarie Ackermann's 1.93 m leap.

In August 1978, she set the new world record with 2.01 m in Brescia (this jump stood as a national record until Antonietta Di Martino jumped 2.02 in June 2007). Later in the same month she equalled it at Prague while winning the European title. In 1980, Simeoni set a new Olympic record of 1.97 m, when winning gold in Moscow.^[1] Simeoni was the only woman athlete not from a Communist country able to win an athletics gold medal in Moscow.

Simeoni struggled to regain her form in the following years, with a series of tendon injuries. At 1984 Olympics, Simeoni carried the Italian flag at the opening ceremony in Los Angeles. Here, she cemented her reputation as one of the greatest female high jumpers ever, in a thrilling duel with West German Ulrike Meyfarth. Simeoni managed to reach the 2 meters measure for the first time since 1978. The ageing Meyfarth, however, replied with a notable 2.02 m jump, and Simeoni won a silver medal.

Simeoni's other titles include two bronze medals at the European Championships and 25 national titles. Her jump of 2.01 m was the Italian record for women for 29 years. On 8 June 2007, Antonietta Di Martino jumped 2.02 m, establishing the new Italian record for women.

Sara Simeoni is widely considered one of the best Italian female athletes ever. She is married to her coach Erminio Azzaro.^[1] Their son Roberto Azzaro is also a high jumper.^[2]

Achievements

¹Representing Europe

National titles

She won 25 national championships at individual senior level.^[3][4]

• Italian Athletics Championships
  • High jump: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985 (14)
  • Pentathlon: 1972 (1)
• Italian Indoor Athletics Championships
  • High jump: 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1986 (10)