Giovanni Pettenella 1943-2010

Vanni Pettenella was a really important figure in Italian cycling- he won gold and silver medals in the 1964 Olympics and was the last Italian track champion to do so. He held some pretty amazing records too. During the semifinals of the Tokyo
Olympic track sprint against Pierre Trentin, he astounded the crowd with a 21 minute trackstand before finishing his adversary with a blindingly fast sprint. At the 1968 Italian National Track Championships, Vanni set the world trackstand record of one hour and five minutes, a record that stands to this day. Here's a description of the event:

"In Varese on that hot August day in 1968 the commentator covering the
event for Italian national television ran out of people to interview,
and a crowd of curious spectators slowly started flocking to the
velodrome to witness the event. Pettenella's adversary on that occasion
was that same Bianchetto of the Tokyo Olympic sprint final, a rider who
after one hour and three minutes of trackstanding under the fierce
summer sun collapsed to the ground, unconscious. In a drawer of his
office desk Pettenella still has a photograph of the final minutes of
the race. Bianchetto is lying unconscious on the track with Vanni still
trackstanding and waiting for the doctors to validate his victory in the
first sprint."

His passing is a real loss for cycling.

Camilla made a great little memorial video for Vanni. Really interesting stuff. There is some really cool footage of his Olympic win in there too.

VANNI PETTENELLA GOLD AND SILVER MEDAL 1964 TOKYO from camilla candida donzella on Vimeo.

Here are Camilla's words about the video:

SORRY FOR THE BAD SUBTITLES I MADE...
BUT I DID IT JUST IN FEW HOURS...
(and from a shooting i did 5 years ago when i start my documentary about frame builders here in Italy,i thought to never use this but i like people see him :))..
VANNI WAS A CHAMPION VANNI WAS A FRIENDS HE PASSED AWAY SATURDAY,
TODAY 23 IS GONNA BE THE HIM FUNERAL...
I WANT THE WORLD KNOW ABOUT HIM...
IN ITALY PEOPLE BARELY KNOW WHO HE WAS...
HE WAS WORLD CHAMPION ON THE 64 IN TOKYO ,
HE STILL HAVE THE WORLD RECORD FOR SURPLACE (TRACKSTAND) DURING A RACE 1 HOUR AND 3 MINUTES...
THEY USE TO CALL HIM THE FLYING POULTRYMAN BECAUSE HE USE TO SELL CHICKEN BEFORE BEING A RACER ...
I USED TO GO TO VISIT HIM AND SPEND SOME TIME WITH HIM...AND EVERY TIME I WAS LIVING HE WAS TELLING ME "YOU KNOW I M GONNA MISS YOU" ...
HE HAD A LOTS OF STORY