Francesco Tabai

Francesco Tabai was an all-round athlete and long and triple jump specialist between the two World Wars. In the decathlon he won his first Italian title in 1931 with 6,200 points and then distinguished himself in horizontal jumping. In the long jump he won two Italian titles in 1933-34, managing to beat the top two Italians, Arturo Maffei and Virgilio Tommasi, while, in the triple, he won national titles in 1936-37 by beating Franco Bini and Antonio Milanese respectively. In the triple jump he was the Italian record holder for one year, raising the mark from 14.15 to 14.68 from September 1931 to June 1932, while he set his personal best in Firenze on 8 August 1937 with 14.81.

Internationally, at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, Tabai was the first Italian triple jumper to take part at the Olympics, placing 10th ahead of the world record holder and defending Olympic champion Mikio Oda. Tabai’s other important tournament was the 1934 European Championships in Torino where he was 13th in the long jump. Tabai earned 11 international caps from 1930-35.

Personal Best: TJ – 14.81 (1937).