Pierpaolo Ferrazzi

A slalom kayaker, Pierpaolo Ferrazzi was the first Italian to win an Olympic gold medal in that discipline. He was a member of the State Forestry Corps who began his international career in 1989 at the World Championships where he won a team silver medal, alongside the non-Olympians Marco Caldera and Ettore Vivaldi. He won the World Cup in 1990 and 1992 and in 1991 became the Italian team champion.

The following year, at the Barcelona Olympics, Ferrazzi won gold in the individual K1 after finishing the first heat in 17th place, but then having a perfect second run. Between 1994 and 1997 he won four consecutive national titles and competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. At the 2000 European Championships, he won double gold, individual and team, returning to the podium at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in third place.

In 2002-03 Ferrazzi won the Italian Championships in Ivrea, while at the World Championships in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, France, he won team silver (2002). He ended his Olympic career at the Athina Games, placing 19th, while in 2005 he still managed to win silver in the K1 team at Penrith, Australia. From 2000 Ferrazzi was a Cavaliere al Merito of the Italian Republic and in 2015 he was honoured with the CONI Gold Collar for sporting merit.