How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart?
In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.
The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.
Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.
The Stats
Country
Italy
Crew Names
Luca Chiumento
Luca Rambaldi
Andrea Panizza
Giacoma Gentili
Average Age
27 years
Olympic Record
Fifth in the M4x at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (Gentili, Panizza, Rambaldi)
2024 Competitive Record
World Rowing Cup 1: 3rd M4x (Chiumento, Gentili, Panizza) | 2nd M2x (Rambaldi)
World Rowing Cup 2: 3rd M4x (Chiumento, Gentili, Panizza) | 2nd M2x (Rambaldi)
World Rowing Cup 3: N/A
European Championships: 1st M4x (Chiumento, Gentili, Panizza) | 4th M2x (Rambaldi)
The Profile
Italy have taken the bold decision to change their line-up for Paris with the hope of overhauling the Dutch and Poles. Out goes Niccolo Carucci, who had been in the quad for the past two season, and in comes Luca Rambaldi (the two swap seats with Carucci moving into the double). Rambaldi returns to the boat that he first raced in 2012 and in which he, Gentili and Panizza became world champions in 2018 and bronze medallists in 2019. These three then raced the quad at the Tokyo Olympics and were bitterly disappointed to miss out on a medal. After Tokyo, Rambaldi moved into the double, taking fourth at the world championships. This season, in the double, Rambaldi (and partner Matteo Sartori) took silver at both the first and second World Cups and fourth at the Europeans. For the other three in the quad they took bronze at the 2022 world championships and silver last season. This year, they have two bronze medals from World Rowing Cup’s I and II and took gold at the Europeans (where the senior Netherlands team were absent).
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