His older brothers, amateur athletes, encouraged him to take up marathon running. Since then he has not stopped. Some seasons back, he left his job as shop assistant at a supermarket to dedicate his energies full time to marathon running. Because ‘Rero’ has a determination of steel and at 41 he wants to experience his third Olympic Games after Beijing 2008 and London 2012. He made his marathon debut in 1999, and has in his prize record a team silver medal at the Paris World Championship, the Rome marathon in 2004 and the marathon of Sant’Antonio, in which he was crowned Italian champion. He also won a team gold medal at the European Championships in Gothenburg and one (posthumous, following the disqualification for doping of the Moroccan Baday) in the half marathon of the 2013 Mediterranean Games. At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing he came fourth, “best result in his career”, but the Italian athlete (whose hobby is gardening) is looking for an “excuse” to celebrate with his girls Chiara and Alice in Rio.