Luca Pancalli

Luca Pancalli

Pancalli in 2013 with the then Italian president Giorgio Napolitano
Personal information
Born	(1964-04-16) 16 April 1964 (age 60) Rome, Italy
Sport
Country	Italy
Sport	Paralympic swimming
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Paralympic Games 8 6 1 World Championships 3 0 0 Total 11 6 1 Paralympic Games 1984 Stoke Mandeville/New York 25m breaststroke 1C 1984 Stoke Mandeville/New York 25m butterfly 1C 1984 Stoke Mandeville/New York 25m freestyle 1C 1988 Seoul 50m freestyle 1C 1988 Seoul 100m freestyle 1C 1988 Seoul 25m breaststroke 1C 1996 Atlanta 50m backstroke S4 1996 Atlanta 50m butterfly S4 1984 Stoke Mandeville/New York 100m freestyle 1C 1984 Stoke Mandeville/New York 3x25m individual medley 1C 1988 Seoul 25m backstroke 1C 1996 Atlanta 50m freestyle S4 1996 Atlanta 100m freestyle S4 1996 Atlanta 200m freestyle S4 1988 Seoul 3x25m freestyle relay 1A-1C World Para Swimming Championships 1994 Malta 50m backstroke S4 1994 Malta 50m butterfly S3-4 1994 Malta 50m freestyle S4

Luca Pancalli (born 16 April 1964) is an Italian sports manager and former swimmer.

Early life and education

Pancalli was born in Rome. He graduated in law at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1998. As lawyer, he dedicated himself to the field of civil rights and in raising public awareness regarding the issue of disability.[1]

Career

After having won a national youth modern pentathlon championship, Pancalli became a quadriplegic in 1981 following a tumble from a horse during an international race in Austria. Despite this, he was still able to partially move his arms and took part in four different editions of the Paralympic Games from 1984 to 1996, winning eight gold, six silver, and one bronze medal in swimming.[2]

In 1992, Pancalla was among the founders of the Italian Sports Federation of Motoring Special Licenses (FISAPS), which he chaired until 1996, the year in which he became vice-president of the Italian Sports Federation for the Disables (FISD). In 2000, he became president of the FISD. That same year, he was also appointed president of the Italian Paralympic Committee, which later became a public law body.[1] He was then appointed vice-president of the Italian National Olympic Committee, being the first disabled person to take the job. On 21 September 2006, after Guido Rossi resigned, Pancalli was appointed Extraordinary Commissioner of the Italian Football Federation.[1] In October 2006, he opposed the position taken by Rossi in awarding the 2005–06 Serie A title to Inter Milan, the team Rossi supported and of which he had been on the boards of directors, believing that in his opinion it should have remained unassigned. Years later, Inter Milan was charged with multiple Article 1 and Article 6 violations (with Article 6 related to match-fixing and warranting relegation) but the charges were time-barred; Pancalli reiterated his criticism of Rossi's decision.[3]

On 2 February 2007, following gratuitous violences in the Sicilian derby in Catania, which led to the killing of a policeman, Pancalli announced his intention to indefinitely suspend all football activities in the country.[4][5] This was the second time such an event happened, the first time being after Genoa supporter Vincenzo Spagnolo was stabbed in 1995 by an alleged Milan ultras member called Simone Brasaglia.[6] The suspension ended on 11 February 2007.[7]

In 2021, Pancalla was awarded the title of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.[1]

See also

• Italy at the Paralympics

References

1. "Pancalli, Luca". Treccani (in Italian). 2021. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2024. Updated through the years.
2. "Luca Pancalli". Paralympic. 2020. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
3. "'Lo scudetto del 2006 poteva non essere dato'". La Repubblica (in Italian). 9 April 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
4. "Pancalli: 'Stop a tempo indeterminato per i campionati e la nazionale'". La Repubblica. 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
5. Butturini, Paolo; Galdi, Maurizio (3 February 2007). "'Fermi a tempo indeterminato'". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
6. Di Segni, Simone (16 April 2012). "Chi ha potuto fermare il calcio?". La Stampa (in Italian). Archived from the original on 5 April 2024. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
7. "E' tornata la A, tra porte chiuse e massima vigilanza". La Repubblica (in Italian). 11 February 2007. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2024.

External links

• Luca Pancalli at Paralympic.org