Cesare Zilioli

Cesare Zilioli was an Italian canoeist and a three-time Olympian who competed for the Bissolati club. With his longtime partner, Cesare Beltrami, he placed sixth in K-2 1000 and K-4 1000 at the Tokyo Olympics, and eighth in K-2 1000 in 1968 at Mexico City.

Zilioli competed at the European Championships in both 1967 and 1968. He is most famous for an episode that occurred at the 1963 World Championships in the K-2 10,000 race. Zilioli was paired with Beltrami when they came upon the Hungarian crew of Istvàn Timàr-Geng and Làszlò Fàbiàn, who had lost their paddle. Zilioli recovered it and returned it to the legitimate owners who went on to win, while they only finished in seventh place due to a broken rudder. After the award ceremony, Fabian took the medal from his neck and gave it to Zilioli, who for his gesture, years later, was awarded by Panathlon International with the Fair Play Award, named after Pierre, Baron de Coubertin.

After the Mexico City Olympics and winning four races at the Italian Championships, Ziloli left active sport. He remained in Cremona as custodian of Canottieri Baldesio until 1979. The Municipality then hired him as an assistant bather at the Cremona swimming pool, and he then moved with his family to Sabaudia where he worked in a boatyard.