• Reportage: the great-grandfather of the wind: athlete with 101 years

Giuseppe Ottaviani's house had two floors. He went downstairs to receive in the first and went briskly up to the second. He was the athletics world champion and held the all-time record in eight different categories . Good so far, if it wasn't for I was 104 years old . A legend, unknown to many, that goes big. This Sunday he died in Sant'Ippolito , a small town in central Italy, where he had been born in 1916 . In times of the First World War.

He did not remember that one, but he did remember that of 39. " When it exploded, he was doing military service as a driver for the Air Force . The bombs fell next to the barracks in Turin," he told EL MUNDO, during a conversation at his home three years. Her relationship with Italian Aviation returned when she started her career as an athlete, at the age of 70 .

Until then he had only been a tailor . After a whole day, with three children to feed, there was no time to spare. He liked sports, a healthy life and on summer evenings he did not forgive the Tour . Too bad this year it was taken from him. "When I retired, I thought I had to occupy my time and why couldn't I also be an athlete. My other friends go down to the bar, spend their lives, but I wanted to take advantage of it," he said.

And so his career went from less to more. She started in athletics in the master category, where athletes compete for age ranges from 35 years. Perhaps he lacked the training or experience of other veterans, but he was not without consistency. He had his first victory in an Italian championship in 1999, 13 years after his debut, and since then he has only been making records. In the record, prepared by his son Paolo, there are 55 national titles for people over 95 years old; and eight world records, four Europeans and 12 Italians in the category over 100 years old.

In 2018 he traveled to Spain to participate in the European Indoor Championship in Madrid and later in the World Cup in Malaga . In total, five gold medals were brought from our country. He did not have a specialty, his was the multidisciplinary character. He won the same in the 100 meters, as in triple jump or shot put. He recognized that he would have liked to be a professional, but that what really mattered to him was putting on the tracksuit, the garment that puts us all on the same level.

" Life has not always been happy , you know? I have lived six years of war, of many worries. But it should not have been so bad when there are those who have lost their skin and who are still here," he said then. Finally his time came, like the others, but he did not lose his good temper until the last moment. He trained until the body couldn't take it anymore and only then did he leave his glass of wine mixed with water. This Monday the Italian newspapers remember him with short news. The best athlete of his generation is leaving.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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