Pietro Mennea, the Italian Athlete Died at 60 Years of Age

Pietro Mennea, the Italian athletics died in Rome on 21 March 2013. He was 60 years of age. He died because of some incurable disease.
 
About Pietro Mennea:-

• Pietro Mennea was the gold medal winner in the 200m at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
• He remained 14-time champion in 100m and 200m in the outdoor Italian championships.
• He was renowned for creating the world record of 19.72sec in Mexico 1979. His record could not be broken for around two decades. This was a record which broke its record of American Tommie Smith and remained unbeatable by US sprint great, Michael Johnson, in 1996.
• Pietro Mennea was also called Arrow of the South (Freccia del Sud in Italian).
• He announced his retirement in 1983. Despite announcing his retirement, he won 200m bronze at inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983.
• In 1984, he was known to be the first person appearing in fourth consecutive 200m Olympic final at 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
• He again announced his retirement and returned back for Seoul Games of 1988.