Giorgio Jegher

Giorgio Jegher was an Italian long-distance runner who competed for Giovinezza Trieste, Trionfo Genovese, and Associazione Amatori Atletica. As a youth Jegher joined the Trieste club in 1956, and moved to England where he mainly ran cross-country. On his return to Italy, his finest win came at the 1963 Italian Marathon Championship with 2-27:51.6. Later that year he went to São Paolo where he was 17th in the well-known Corrida. At the Tokyo Olympics Jegher placed 17th with a personal best of 2-24:46.

After finishing his active career at the Olympic marathon, Jegher continued a family tradition of breeding standardbred trotters. Owner of the stud Adriatica, among his trotters, his best horses were Gainsford, Capobanda, and Evelyn Ashford, named after the famous American sprinter. In the 1990s Jegher sustained two strokes and died in a Swiss clinic at only 59-years-old.

Personal Bests: 800 – 1:55.0 (1959); 1500 – 3:50.7 (1959); 5000 – 14:54.6 (1964); 10000 – 30:44 (1964); Mar – 2-24:46 (1964).