Roberto Veglia

At 15-years-old, Roberto Veglia began to compete in long jump and joined C.S. Fiat, where the Professor Zamperin found him suitable for this specialty. After Veglia moved to coach Vincenzo Trevisiol, the best year of his career was 1976.

After a 7.40 in Bologna 1973, a 7.45 in 1974 in Pamplona, and a windy 7.74 in Athens on 24 August 1975, in 1976 Veglia reached the personal best of 7.89 in Catania on 16 April, his birthday, at only 4 centimeters from the national record of Giuseppe Gentile (set in Chorzow on 17 August 1968), after a trip from Torino of about 24 hours. Two months later he won the Italian title with 7.80, ahead of Molinaris (7.66) and Siega (7.63).

At only 19 years of age, Veglia took part in the Montréal Olympics, where he did not advance after a poor 7.48 in the qualifications. From 1976-81 he earned seven international caps.

Personal Best: LJ – 7.89 (1976).