Adriano Facchini

Adriano Facchini was the best Italian modern pentathlete of the second half of the 1950s. Domestically he won two titles (1953, 1957) while his international career was more notable. He was the best Italian at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics and took part at the World Championships from 1955 to 1959, with his best individual placement in 1957 at Stockholm with 15th. He also won the Siegenthaler Trophy at Bern in 1958 and the following year the French Championship at Saumur.

After his sporting career, Facchini mostly devoted himself to teaching swimming to boys. His fate would have it that, on holiday in Sardinia in the summer of 1969, he fell ill in the water near the campsite where he was staying, which led to his death at the age of only 42.