Pietro Paolo Mennea (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛtro menˈnɛa]; 28 June 1952 – 21 March 2013) was an Italian sprinter and politician, who was the 1980 Moscow Olympic 200 meter champion, and also held the 200 m world record for 17 years with his time of 19.72, set in September 1979.

Biography

Mennea, who was born in Barletta, started his long international athletic career in 1971, when he won the first of his 14 Italian outdoor titles in the 100/200. He went on to win 2 indoor titles at 60/400, along with 5 Mediterranean Games gold medals in 100/200. He competed at the European Championships with a third place in the 4 x 100 m relay. He made his Olympic debut at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where he made the final of the 200 m, his strongest event. He crossed the line in third place, behind Valeri Borzov and Larry Black. Three more Olympic 200 metre finals would follow later in his career.

At the 1974 European Championships, Mennea claimed the 200 m gold in front of his home crowd in Rome, while also placing second behind Borzov in the 100 m and the 4 x 100 m. After some poor performances in the 1976 Olympic season, Mennea decided to skip the Olympics, but when the Italian public protested Mennea went to Montreal. He did make it to the final of the 200 m, but saw Don Quarrie take the gold, leaving the Italian in fourth. He again placed fourth when the Italian relay team just missed out on the bronze.

In 1977 he finished 2nd in the world cup 200, where a photo finish separated him from Clancy Edwards of the United States. He successfully defended his European 200 m title in 1978, but displayed his capabilities in the 100 metres by also winning that event in Prague.

In 1979, Mennea was 1st in the 100, and 2nd in the 200 behind Allan Wells of Great Britain in the European Cup. But afterwards since he was a student in political sciences, took part in the World University Games, which were held on the high-altitude track of Mexico City. His winning time in the 200, 19.72, was the new world record, beating the former world record by Tommie Smith set on the same track in the 1968 Summer Olympics. The record held out for seventeen years (Mennea also held the low-altitude world record from 1980 to 1983: 19.96, set in his home town, Barletta), and was finally beaten by Michael Johnson at the U.S. Olympic Trials for the 1996 Summer Olympics. As of 1 March 2013 still only eight athletes recorded a better time over 200 metres than Mennea's world record. On 17 August 1980, Mennea became the first sprinter to break 20 seconds for the 200 metres for the third time.

The world record holder was also one of the favourites for the Olympic gold in Moscow, in part because of the American boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. He competed in the 100 metres where he reached the semi-finals. In the 200 m final, Mennea faced reigning champion Don Quarrie, and 100 m champion Allan Wells. Wells seemed to be heading for the gold, but Mennea slowly drew closer on the straight, and edged out the Scotsman for the gold by 0.02 seconds. Later in those same games, he was the anchor man on the Italian bronze medal winning 4 × 400 relay team.

In 1983, in Cassino, he clocked a manual 14.8 seconds in 150 metres, a world best time that he held until it was bettered by Usain Bolt in Manchester in 2009. Mennea, known in Italy as the Freccia del Sud ("Arrow of the South"), then announced his retirement, allowing himself more time for his study. However, he came back from retirement soon, and won a bronze medal in the 200 m at the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki. A year later, he competed in his fourth consecutive Olympic 200 m final, becoming the first person to do so. The defending champion finished in seventh, and retired from athletics for a second time afterwards. Again, Mennea made a comeback, and competed in his fifth Olympics in Seoul, but did not make it through the heats of the 200 m.

Mennea later admitted that he had used human growth hormone during his career, but after the world record in 1984. In an interview to an italian newspaper in 1987 he told that in 1984, during the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, an american physiotherapist proposed a doping treatment to him. Back in Italy he tried two injections of human growth hormone but the crisis of conscience he got was so important that it induced him to retire from activity: "I understood that in my life I was looking for everything, except for that." Although the usage of the substance is banned in modern-day competition, it was not banned at the time by the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

Mennea was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004 elected on the list of The Democrats, but failed in his attempt to be re-elected.

Mennea died in a Rome hospital as a result of a long battle with an as yet unnamed incurable disease. He was 60.

Honors and awards

On 24 May 2012, the Mayor of Durrës, Vangjush Dako, bestowed upon Mennea the title of honorary citizen of Durrës to Pietro Mennea. Furthermore President of Albania Bamir Topi awarded Pietro Mennea with the "Medal of Gratitude" with citation: "For value and contribution as the former World record holder in Athletics and major figure in the Foundation "Pietro Mennea", created to help sport and research".

See also

• Men's 200 metres world record progression
• List of flag bearers for Italy at the Olympics
• Italy national athletics team – Multiple medalists
• Italian all-time lists – 100 metres
• Italian all-time lists – 200 metres
• Italy national relay team
• FIDAL Hall of Fame
• Italy national athletics team – More caps