Massimo Cosmelli

Massimo Cosmelli was an Italian basketball player who played at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. His boyhood dream was to be an airplane pilot, but he gave that up as his sports career took off.

A playmaking guard at only 180 cm tall, Cosmelli débuted with the national team at the 1963 Mediterranean Games and after that was a constant presence in the Azzurra jersey. He competed at five European Championships (1963-71), two World Championships (1967, 1970), two Mediterranean Games, and the 1968 Olympics. Cosmelli earned 154 international caps, scoring 941 points, while winning a bronze medal at the 1971 Europeans, and gold and silver at the 1963 and 1967 Mediterranean Games, respectively.

Domestically (1963-76), he had been with Libertas Livorno, Virtus Bologna, Pallacanestro Milano, Snaidero Udine, and finally with Mens Sana Siena, scoring a league total of 3,891 points. Cosmelli was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.