24/02/2022   Giorgio Rubino hangs up his shoes






 

 

Last year, during the Italian Championships in Rovereto, we met Giorgio Rubino in the walking race who told us that this would probably be his last walking race as it was also time for him to hang up his shoes.
We found it on January 16 of this year at the start in the 35km of Pescara and we asked him why this change of choice.
He replied with a smile that he had agreed with his team (Fiamme Gialle) to try to continue at least up to the 35km of the beginning of the season, reserving an opportunity for a possible selection for the World Team Walking Championship in Muscat between two. weeks.
 
Unfortunately we all know how Giorgio Rubino's 35km ended.
 
Last night we received his laconic message via WhatsApp: "You can pass me into the Italy Hall of Fame. A hug. It has been a nice trip".
 
Dear Giorgio, you have been a light of the Italian race walking over the past 20 years and you have also been a great friend to us.
We wish you all the best for your future.
 
 
The beginnings
 
His first sport was football, while he started with athletics at the end of 1998 called by former walker Patrizio Parcesepe who had noticed him in a middle-distance student competition. After two months of training at the Stella Polare stadium in Ostia he chose race walking. He revealed himself internationally by touching the podium at the World Championships in Sherbrooke in 2003. Eighth at the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2006, he was fifth at the World Championships in Osaka 2007, fourth in the following ones in Berlin, a placement that later became third due to the disqualification of the Russian Borchin, and fifth at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona. Trained by Sandro Damilano in Saluzzo until the London Games, he then moved to Syracuse under the guidance first of Dario Privitera and then of Alessandro Garozzo. From November 2016 he was followed by Giovanni De Benedictis in Pescara, then from January 2020 by Massimo Passoni in Livorno and finally again by Giovanni de Benedictis in Pescara.
In his spare time he is a football fan, a fan of Lazio, but also of soft electronic music and photography.
 
 
Curriculum (20km walk)
 
Overall Italian titles: 7 (2005-2014, 10km: 2012-2014, 5000m indoor 2006-2012-2013);
Olympic Games: 2008 (18), 2012 (42);
World Championships: 2007 (5), 2009 (3), 2011 (DQ), 2013 (28), 2015 (20), 2017 (16);
European Championships: 2006 (8), 2010 (5), 2014 (8), 2018 (DQ);
U20 World Cup (10,000m walk): 2004 (10);
European U20 Championships (10,000m walk): 2005 (3);
U23 European Championships: 2007 (DQ);
U18 World Championships (10,000m walk): 2003 (4);
Mediterranean Games: 2009 (2);
World Cup/Team World Championships: 2004 (DQ in U20/10km), 2006 (17, 6T), 2012 (19, 9T), 2014 (20, 9T), 2016 (DNF), 2018 (17, 2T);
European Cup: 2003 (13 U20/10km, 5T/U20), 2005 (2 U20/10km, 3T/U20), 2007 (10, 2T), 2009 (1, 1T), 2011 (4, 2T), 2013 (13, 6T), 2015 (11, 7T), 2017 (8, 7T).