Elisa Cusma

Elisa Cusma Piccione was an Italian middle-distance runner. She was the daughter of Lucio, an Italian and European lightweight boxing champion in 1983-84. Elisa began competing in athletics at the age of 11 when she won a cross-country race.

Cusma lost her mother when she was only 13 due to a work accident. During her early years she competed with Mollificio Modenese Cittadella but, in 1999-2000, she took a break to complete her agricultural studies, and only returned to athletics seriously in 2004. Domestically she won a total of 18 Italian titles: 5 titles in the 800 (2005-09), 3 in the 1,500 metres (2010-12), 6 in the 800 indoor (2007-10, 2012-13), and 4 in the 1,500 indoor (2006, 2009-10, 2012).

Coached by Claudio Guizzardi at the military club of Esercito (Army), in 2006 Cusma approached one of the oldest Italian records, that of Gabriella Dorio in the 800 – 1:57.66 set in 1980. At the international meeting at Rieti Cusma finished sixth in 1:58.90. In 2007 she bettered the 2-minute barrier five times. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics she was eliminated in the semi-finals. At the 2009 European Indoor Championships Cusma won bronze and, later that summer, was sixth at the Berlin World Championship with 1:58.81, her season best and second best of her career. In the same year she won gold in the 800 and 1,500 at the Mediterranean Games. She earned a total of 23 international caps between 2005-12.

Hampered by injuries in 2013-14, Cusma returned to compete in 2015 indoors, winning the Italian title in the 800, but in July 2015 she announced her retirement from competitive athletics.

Personal Best: 800 – 1:58.63 (2007).