Agostino Abbagnale

Agostino Abbagnale
Personal information
Nationality	Italian
Born	25 August 1966 (age 57); Pompei, Italy
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	96 kg (212 lb)
Sport
Country	Italy
Sport	Rowing
Club	G.S. Fiamme Gialle
Medal record
Men's rowing
Representing Italy
Olympic Games
World Championships

Agostino Abbagnale (born 25 August 1966) is an Italian rower and triple Olympic gold medalist. He is the younger brother of multiple Olympic medalists Carmine Abbagnale and Giuseppe Abbagnale.^[2]

Biography

Abbagnale was born in Pompei. He won his first gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He stroked the Italian Quadruple scull (4x). His brothers Carmine and Giuseppe won gold medals at the same games in the pair with coxswain event (2+).

After the medal ceremony, Abbagnale, who is a poor swimmer, jumped into the rowing lake and landed on one of his partners Davide Tizzano, knocking the gold medal out of his hand. It took scuba divers two days to recover the missing medal. Shortly thereafter, Abbagnale began suffering from thrombosis which caused blood clots in the veins of his legs. He had to give up rowing for five years, which prevented him from rowing in the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Abbagnale returned to the Olympic stage at the 1996 Summer Olympics, teaming with Davide Tizzano to win the Gold in the double scull (2x). At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Abbagnale repeated his gold medal performance, winning the quadruple scull (4x). A flare-up in his thrombosis forced Abbagnale to retire in 2003.

In 2006, Abbagnale was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal, given by FISA, the governing board for international rowing. The Thomas Keller Medal is awarded for an outstanding career in international rowing. Abbagnale's brothers Carmine and Giuseppe had been awarded the Thomas Keller Medal in 1997.

Achievements

Olympic Medals: 3 Gold
World Championship Medals: 2 Gold and 2 Silver.
Thomas Keller Medal Awarded in 2006 for an outstanding career in international rowing.

Olympic Games

2000 – Gold, Quadruple Scull
1996 – Gold, Double Scull
1988 – Gold, Quadruple Sculls

World Championships

2002 – Silver, Double Scull
1999 – 7th, Quadruple Scull
1998 – Gold, Quadruple Scull
1997 – Gold, Quadruple Scull
1995 – 13th, Double Scull
1987 – 11th, Quadruple Scull
1985 – Silver, Eight

References

^ "Canottaggio statistiche Olimpiadi" (in Italian). fiammegialle.org. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
^ "Abbagnale new Italian Rowing president". worldrowing.com. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2020. The Italian Rowing Federation has a new president. He is Giuseppe Abbagnale, the three-time Olympic medallist and from Italy's most famed rowing family of Carmine, Agostino and Giuseppe Abbagnale.