Ottaviano Andriani [en]
Ottaviano Andriani was born on July 4, 1974 at Francavilla Fontana, near Brindisi, in the sourthern region of Apulia. He started running when he was 15, with his school sports group,finishing 6th at the student championships. Then he abandoned this sport opting for tennis, until he returned to his first love, spurred by the results of his twin brother Antonio in the middle distance race. So he started clocking up kilometres, becoming soon a leading figure in long distance running events. One of his mentors has been Professor Piero Incanza, who passed on him his love for running.
Ottavio (that's how he wants to be called) started with the "Fiamma Atletica Sud Puglia Brindisi", but soon he joined the police sports group "Fiamme Oro", attaining the rank of "Assistente".
In 1997 he won the Florence marathon in 2h14'27" and in 2007 he won the Europe's Marathon in Trieste in a time of 2h10'57". His personal best, which dates back to 2001, is 2h09'07".
He was selected to represent Italy at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in recognition of his pure talent as a top marathon runner at national and
international events. He finished 23rd in a race characterized by
harsh environmental conditions, with high temperature and humidity.
Progression (10.000m/marathon):
1992 (18) 29:51.5; 1993 (19) 30:28.4; 1994 (20) 14:03.16/5000m; 1995 (21) 29:05.5; 1996 (22) 29:13.27-2h15:01; 1997 (23) 28:49.5-2h14:27; 1998 (24)
29:11.50-2h16:28; 1999 (25) 29:12.91-2h11:42; 2000 (26) 28:50.65; 2001 (27) 2h09:07; 2002 (28) 2h17:41; 2003 (29) 2h11:54; 2004 (30) 2h14:51; 2005
(31) 2h10:12; 2006 (32) 2h10:51. Other personal records: 8:02.42/3000m, 13:58.90/10000m, 1h01:40/half marathon.
Results (marathon):
WCh: 2005 (17); ECh: 1998 (20), 2002 (19), 2006 (DNF); H Mar WCh: 1992 (7jr), 1993 (11jr), 2001 (50); WCCC: 1993 (39jr); ECCC: 2002 (25).