Daniele Giovanardi

Daniele Giovanardi was an Italian athlete and member of the Centro Sportivo Carabinieri in Bologna, where he was a sprinter and also competed in the 400 metres flat and hurdles. At the 1972 München Olympics he was a member of the Italian 4x100 metres relay squad. Giovanardi’s only Italian title was at Roma in 1973 when he won the 400 hurdles title in 52.1. He won 17 international caps between 1971-75.

Giovanardi graduated in medicine and, after the end of his sporting career, progressed from being a doctor in the emergency department of the Policlinico of Modena, to eventually becoming a director. Giovanardi also held some important posts, including vice-president and secretary of the Medical Association, president of the Red Cross of Modena, and founder of the Confraternita della Misericordia.

In 2016, after his resignation as director at Modena, Giovanardi decided to speak about his long experience as a doctor engaged in the medical emergency field. His true stories of doctors and healthcare professionals, and their daily work “in the trenches”, was a hard, bitter, painful and also ironic and funny account. He also recalled the long-standing disputes and lack of communications with administrators and politicians. These stories are all told in his book Il Pronto Soccorso é malato (The First Aid is Sick).

Apart from being an athlete and doctor, Giovanardi was also an expert painter, specialising in 20th century art, and in particular the work of the Burano school. He exhibited his work in his home-town Modena, Venezia, Treviso and also in Israel (at Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem), following an invitation from the Italian Cultural Institute in Israel. Giovanardi’s twin brother Carlo was an Italian politician who was a member of the Senate and leader of the socially conservative wing of the New Centre-Right party, and was also Minister for Relations with Parliament (2001-06).

Personal Best: 400 – 47.1 (1972).