Giovanni Garaventa

Giovanni Garaventa was an Italian athlete basically from 1921 to 1932, although he competed for a few more years sporadically. Domestically he won two individual national titles: the 1925 800 metres and the 1926 1,500 metres. Garaventa set two Italian records: 4:00.2 for 1,500 metres on 24 July 1927 in Genova and 2,000 m in 5:33.8 in 1924. Both of these records were later improved by Luigi Beccali.

Internationally Garaventa won seven caps from 1924-28. He was present at the 1924 Olympics, in 1926 in Budapest he was runner-up in the 1,500 behind Beccali in the Hungary-Italy match, and in 1927 he won two events in the tri-meet against Poland and Czechoslovakia. Once his sports career came to an end, Garaventa was hired by the Trionfo Genovese club where his experience and skills contributed to their successes until the late 1960s.

Personal bests: 1500m – 4:00.2 (1927); 3000m steeplechase – 10:28.8 (1926).