| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National team | Italy (athletics): 6 caps (1993-1996) | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1970-07-18) 18 July 1970 (age 54) Templecombe, Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics Bobsleigh | |||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Combined events (athletics) Two-man bob (bobsleigh) | |||||||||||||||||
| Club | G.S. Fiamme Azzurre | |||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1999 (athletics) | |||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best |
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Medal record
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Ubaldo Ranzi (18 July 1970) is a former Italian decathlete and bobsledder who competed in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.
Biography
Born in England to an Italian father and a British mother, he won a gold medal in the two-man event at the 1999 FIBT World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo and won a silver medal (with Gunther Huber), in 2000 always in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Before starting his bobsleigh career he collected 6 caps in Italy national athletics team from 1993 to 1996. Ranzi held the fourth performance of all-time of Italy in the speciality of the decathlon.
Doping and world champion medal
In 1998 Ranzi was found positive for doping at the Italian decathlon championships. While waiting for the counter-analysis, he was allowed to compete in the world bobsleigh championships, a sport in which he had only four months of training. Going as a reserve in the two-man bob, he incredibly won the world gold medal as he found himself replacing the titular brakeman Enrico Costa injured in the heat.
Even more strange is the fact that the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) has even awarded the athlete who instead perhaps should not have even participated in those world bobsleigh championships, because he was positive for doping, therefore, as per regulation, prohibited from participating in competitions in that sport. (athletics) pending counter-analysis and possible disqualification, obviously not in another sport (bobsleigh).
National titles
- Athletics
Ubaldo Ranzi has won one time the individual national championship.
- 1 win in the decathlon (1993)
See also
References
- "Annuario FIDAL dell'atletica 2010" (PDF) (in Italian). asdpedaggio-castiglionetorinese.com. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
- Annuario dell'Atletica 2009. FIDAL. 2009.
- "LISTE ITALIANE ALL TIME" (PDF) (in Italian). fidal.it. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
- "Il decathleta Ranzi trovato positivo. E' un giallo il suo oro iridato del bob" (in Italian). gazzetta.it. 3 August 1999. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
- "Collari d'oro Benemerenz sportive - Ubaldo Ranzi" (in Italian). coni.it. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
- ""CAMPIONATI "ASSOLUTI" ITALIANI SUL PODIO TRICOLORE – 1906 2012" (PDF). sportolimpico.it. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
External links
- Ubaldo Ranzi at World Athletics
- Ubaldo Ranzi at the Italian Athletics Federation (in Italian)