Sante Spigarelli named technical coordinator of Italian Olympic archery squad

A triumvirate of experienced Olympians will coach the Italian archery team in 2020.

Sante Spigarelli, Natalia Valeeva and Matteo Bisiani have all been named to senior positions on a renovated staff for the squad heading into the upcoming Olympic year.

Spigarelli, who competed at the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games and was runner-up at the world championships in 1972, is now technical coordinator. He has ultimate responsibility for the high-performance programme.

Valeeva and Bisiani will coach the women’s and men’s teams, respectively.

Valeeva, one of the most decorated international archers of all time, was promoted from her previous role working with the Italian youth squad. She was World Archery Champion in 2007​ and competed at six Olympic Games between 1992 and 2012, winning individual and team bronze in her debut in Barcelona.

Bisiani moves to the men’s team from the women in 2019. He represented Italy at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, climbing the podium at both – the Italian men came third in Atlanta and second in Sydney – and was also second at the 1995 World Archery Championships.

Ilario di Buo, who was the men’s team coach during this past season, has moved to a role that will work on developing youth talent.

Italy collected at least one Olympic archery medal at each of the Games between 1996 and 2012.

The team has qualified one men’s and one women’s spot for Tokyo 2020 so far. There is one chance left to convert those single spaces to team quotas – at the final qualifying tournament that will be held as part of the Berlin stage of the 2020 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

There are 17 archers currently training with the Italian Olympic squad, eight women and nine men.

Recurve women: Tatiana Andreoli, Lucilla Boari, Vanessa Landi, Tanya Giaccheri, Elena Tonetta, Chiara Rebagliati, Laura Baldelli and Karen Hervat.

Recurve men: Mauro Nespoli, Marco Galiazzo, David Pasqualucci, Marco Morello, Michele Frangilli, Federico Musolesi, Alessandro Paoli and Yuri Belli.

Andreoli and Nespoli won the European Games in 2019, with Nespoli and Boari also taking mixed team gold. Galiazzo was Olympic Champion in 2004. Frangilli was World Archery Champion in 2003.

Technical assistants Giorgio Botto and Antonella Ballarin, physiotherapists Andrea Rossi and Chiara Barbi, psychologist Manolo Cattari, athletic trainer Jacopo Cimmarrusti and doctor Giorgia Micheletti have also been named to the staff.