Riccardo Divora

Italian rower Riccardo Divora was born in Capodistria, the present-day Slovenian town of Koper. At a very young age he joined Canottieri Libertas and began his career in the two-yole (yawl) class and started winning races at the end of 1930. The following year, Divora moved to the coxed fours when his biggest rival was the Pullino team that had won the Olympic gold in Amsterdam three years earlier. The 1931 Italian title was, however, won by Canottieri Aniene of Roma, with Divora leading Libertas to second place, thanks to a team that included Giovanni Plazzer and Bruno Parovel, who would both be team-mates of Divora at the Los Angeles Olympics a year later

Libertas got to go to the Los Angeles Games after beating Pullino to win the 1932 national title. After two weeks of travelling to the United States, the Italians surprisingly beat Germany to win their heat. However, after a long wait at the end of the final, it was declared that Germany had turned the tables by winning the gold by a mere 0.2 seconds.

Upon returning home, after being received by Mussolini and Prince Umberto II of Savoia, the Libertas team was no longer able to obtain valuable results and eventually split up. At 25-years-old, Divora retired but remained a member of the club until his premature death, at just over 40. After his passing, the Italian Rowing Federation established the Coppa Riccardo Divora, awarded at the Trieste regattas to the winners of the coxed pairs.