The medal table can be read in different ways, by weight of the medals, by number of podiums but also by the number of the fourth and fifth places, in sports jargon of “wooden medals”. Fourth place is the worst placement because you are left without a medal, empty-handed, dry-mouthed. Well, Italy at the Paris Olympics of fourth places at the halfway point of the Games has already collected 15 quarters (including the four judo medals which count as placings close to the medal zone).
Fourth places are a matter of points but also of centimeters and seconds. Massimo Stano has something of that, after marching for 20 kilometers at a decidedly very high pace, after almost an hour and 20 minutes of racing he remained without a medal – and to think that he was presenting himself as the reigning Olympic champion – by just one second. Following in the rankings are Great Britain with 13 fourth places, France with 12, Canada with 11. The “Queen” of fourth places in Paris 2024 for Italy is certainly Simona Quadarella who remained at the foot of the podium in both the 1500 and 800 freestyle. For the Roman swimmer it was certainly a hard blow to digest. The first wooden medal was that of Elena Bertocchi and Chiara Pellacani in diving, synchronized three-meter springboard. This was followed by the fourth places of Alice Volpi in individual foil, Luca Braidot in mountain biking, Benedetta Pilato in the 100 breaststroke, Stano in the 20 km walk, Matteo Lodo, Giovanni Abagnale, Giuseppe Vicino and Nicholas Kohl in the rowing 4 without, Alice D’Amato in the all-around of women’s artistic gymnastics, Lorenzo Marsaglia and Giovanni Tocci in the synchronized three-meter springboard, and Tammaro Cassandro in the skeet shooting. Then there are four fifth places, those in judo. In fact, however, they are fourth places because judo and boxing awarded two bronzes.
Odette Giuffrida, Manuel Lombardo, Antonio Esposito and the mixed team came close to winning a medal. At the end of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Italy had obtained 11 fourth places, at Rio 2016, 10, at London 2012, 8, at Beijing 2008, 14, at Athens 2004, 4, at Sydney 2000, 8, at Atlanta 1996, 8, at Barcelona 1992, 7.
