Giovanni Evangelisti

Giovanni Evangelisti (born 11 September 1961 in Rimini) is a retired long jumper from Italy. His greatest achievements were the Olympic bronze medal in 1984 and three World Indoor bronze medals. He finished fourth at the 1988 Olympics.

Biography Despite his records, he is best remembered for the scandal that occurred during the 1987 World Championships. In the long jump final, home officials gave a forged measurement for one of Evangelisti's jumps - recording it as 8.37m instead of 7.85m - which resulted in him winning the bronze medal.

Though initially successful, the scam was eventually exposed by Sandro Donati and others, resulting in Evangelisti relinquishing his medal. Larry Myricks of the United States was instated as the rightful bronze medalist nine months later.

He won 11 medals (nine of them bronze), at the International athletics competitions. His personal best jump was 8.43 metres, achieved in San Giovanni Valdarno on 16 May 1987. This stood as the Italian record until 2007, when Andrew Howe jumped 8.47. He has 59 caps in national team from 1982 to 1994.

Achievements

7.83 m

6th 7.89 m (wind: +0.7 m/s) 1983

7.70 m 1984

8.24 m 1985

7.88 m 1986

7.92 m (wind: +0.2 m/s)

8.01 m

8.26 m

8.19 m

8.00 m

8.08 m w 1990

7.93 m (wind: 0.0 m/s)

7.93 m

7.76 m

7th 8.01 m

7.89 m 1993

8.04 m w 4 wins in the long jump (1981, 1982, 1986, 1992) 5 wins in the long jump indoor (1982, 1984, 1987, 1992, 1994)