Michele Fanelli

Michele Fanelli was an Italian middle-distance and marathon runner, an activity that helped him escape his family’s poor peasant origins. Fanelli never hid his firm and convinced Communist beliefs. On the contrary he flaunted it to the point of refusing Mussolini’s M-shaped trophy after winning the most important race of his life. In the months before his Olympic appearance, he had won the Giro di Roma, the Giro di Milano, and other prestigious races around the peninsula. He then finished 13th in the Berlin Olympic marathon.

Fanelli was twice Italian marathon champion (1932, 1934) and placed eighth at the 1934 European Championships at Torino. He won two international caps with the national squad. At the end of World War II, for his great sporting merits, the city of Foggia put him in charge of the municipal plant of the Pino Zaccheria stadium, until in the 1950s he decided to move to Torino, where he was a factory worker.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-33:30 (1941).