Remembering Sante Gaiardoni Double Olympic Gold

Rider Obituary: In the early hours of Thursday the 30th of November 2023, one of Italy’s greatest track cyclists died. Sante Gaiardoni passed away at the age of 84 in Motta Visconti, Lombardia. Gaiardoni was a prolific winner in the 60’s and was famous for taking two Olympic gold medals in the Games of 1960 in Rome.

Double Olympic champion – Santi Gaiardoni

Italian cycling is in mourning for the passing of Sante Gaiardoni, the only Italian to win two gold medals at the Olympic Games held in Rome in 1960 and one of the protagonists of the sport of that decade. Gaiardoni, won his Olympic gold medals in the 1 Kilometre and the Sprint, and between 1958 and 1970 he won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals in sprint events at the UCI track World championships. He also set a 1K World record.

Born on June 29, 1939 in Villafranca di Verona, in the province of Verona in the Veneto region. Gaiardoni became sprint World champion in Leipzig in 1960 and repeated that three years later in Belgium as a professional. He was also runners-up four times and third twice, to add to his two Olympic gold medals. He turned professional at the end of 1960 and retired in 1971. Many will remember his rivalry with the legendary Italian sprinter, Antonio Maspes, the seven-time World champion, with whom he had historic duels and who would later become close friends. Both riders used to be regularly seen with stars of entertainment such as Walter Chiari and Maurizio Arena, these were the “Dolce Vita” years, especially after he married the singer, Elsa Cuarta in 1963.

Marriage to singer Elsa Cuarta in 1963

Gaiardoni began to make people talk when he won the Italian title in 1957 and in 1958, although his big moment of glory came at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games on August 26, when he won his first gold medal, and then three days later he would repeated it. That day ended in via Veneto with a crowd cheering him in the streets, with his famous friends, Chiari and Arena, encouraging the fans to chant: “Gaiardó! Gaiardó! Gaiardó!”.

World champion

At the end of that year he won the sprint World championship in Leipzig while still an amateur. The following year he began his professional career and took the professional sprint World title in the Rocourt World Championship of 1963 after an epic battle with Maspes, his eternal rival. It didn’t matter where the two gladiators battled, be it on the Vigorelli in Milan or on the bankings of France, Germany or Belgium, there was mush excitement, intrigue and… betting.

Second to Maspes

The rivalry between Gaiardoni and Maspes spread throughout Europe and divided the Italian fans, who used to argue as they did when the legendary Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali fought each other, while the children of those years competed in the backyards of their houses like their hero champions. That bitterness on the track later turned into an unbreakable friendship that extended until Maspes’ death in 2000, at the age of 68, a real blow to Gaiardoni’s spirit. “With Antonio, a piece of my life is gone,” said Gaiardoni, who after winning the silver medal at the 1970 World championships in Leicester celebrated for the last time and retired the following year, after which he opened a bike shop in Giambellino, Milan, his city by adoption.

Rome 1960

His popularity led him to enter politics and he ran as a candidate for mayor in the elections held in 2006, although he lost to Letizia Moratti. One of the heartbreaks he suffered was the demolition of the Olympic velodrome, where he made history: “It’s a stab in the heart,” he said at the time. But the greatest loss in his life was his wife Elsa, who passed on in 2020. Despite the affection of his only daughter, Susy, Gaiardoni never managed to get over her death and his pain stayed with him to his last days.

“A sprinter and a unique champion who will remain forever in the Olympus of Italian sport,” said the president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), Giovanni Malagó, when in 2015 he awarded Gaiardoni the “Golden Necklace” for sporting merit.

Second to Johnson in Leicester in 1970

Top Palmarès:

1958
3º in Copenhagen, DBC’s Grand Prix for Amatører, (København, Sprint, Amateurs), Ordrup (Hovedstaden), Denmark
1º in National Championship, Track, Tandem with Sergio Bianchetto, Amateurs, Italy
2º in World Championship, Track, Sprint, Amateurs, Paris (Ile-de-France), France

1959
2º in Copenhagen, DBC’s Grand Prix for Amatører, (København, Sprint, Amateurs), Ordrup (Hovedstaden), Denmark
1º in Mediterranean Games, Track, 1 km, Elite, Beirut, Lebanon
1º in Mediterranean Games, Track, Sprint, Elite, Beirut, Lebanon
1º in Trofeo Auro Boreri, (Milano – Busseto), Busseto (Emilia-Romagna), Italy
1º in National Championship, Track, Tandem with Turchemeis Zanettini, Amateurs, Italy
2º in World Championship, Track, Sprint, Amateurs, Amsterdam (Noord-Holland), The Netherlands

1960
1º in Copenhagen, DBC’s Grand Prix for Amatører, (København, Sprint, Amateurs), Ordrup (Hovedstaden), Denmark
1º in National Championship, Track, Tandem with Turchemeis Zanettini, Amateurs, Italy
1º in Grand Prix of Paris, (Paris, Sprint, Amateurs), Paris (Ile-de-France), France
1º in World Championship, Track, Sprint, Amateurs, Leipzig (Sachsen), German Democratic Republic
1º in Olympic Games, Track, 1 km, Elite, Roma (Lazio), Italy
1º in Olympic Games, Track, Sprint, Roma (Lazio), Italy

1961
2º in National Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Italy
2º in Paris, Sprint, Paris (Ile-de-France), France

1962
2º in World Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Milano, Italy

1963
2º in GP du Roi, (Brussel/Bruxelles, Sprint, Brussel (Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest), Belgium
2º in Paris, Sprint, Paris (Ile-de-France), France
1º in World Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Rocourt, Belgium

1964
2º Paris, Sprint, Paris (Ile-de-France), France
1º National Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Italy

1966
3º World Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Frankfurt, Germany

1969
3º in World Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Antwerp, Belgium

1970
1º in Copenhagen, DBC’s Grand Prix for professionals, (København, Sprint), Ordrup (Hovedstaden), Denmark
2º in National Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Italy
2º in World Championship, Track, Sprint, Elite, Leicester, Britain.

Santi Gaiardoni – RIP

Our condolences to the Gaiardoni family and friends.

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