Nations 205
Athletes 10960
Italian athletes 281
The 30th edition of the Summer Games will forever remain a milestone in Olympic history. Because it crowned London as the first city to host the Olympics three times, in the name of an appreciable temperance and an efficient organisation. Queen Elizabeth declared the Games open on 27th July in Stratford, in a glittering Olympic Stadium, a glitz more ingenious than formal: with an engaging storyline during the opening ceremony involving 007 at Her Majesty's service, acting as a prelude to an edition that saw the participation of 205 countries and nearly 11,000 athletes. "Inspire a generation", the ambitious aim of the organisers - led by Sebastian Coe - became a slogan of success, able to feed the excitement of enthusiasts, fans and staff. No unnecessary frills, simplicity ruled. 85 nations returned home with a medal. Italy finished with 28 medals (8 golds, 9 silvers and 11 bronzes), eighth overall, improving on the performance of Beijing. Medalling in 15 sports compared to thirteen in 2008, the average age of medalists fell from 29.84 to 28.66, 31 first-time Olympians on the podium (compared to 14 in Beijing), not to mention more than 20 fourth and fifth places. The numbers of the 30th edition of the Summer Olympics bode well for the Italians, especially when comparing the results to other European countries. France increased the number of golds but total medals fell, Germany remained stationary, Russia's gold count decreased. As predicted team GB, as host nation, improved. Italy therefore passed the English test finishing ahead of a superpower such as Australia, but also in front of unexpected nations like Hungary who rolled back the years to former glory or Iran, which managed to take home 13 medals 4 of which were gold. Italian surprises came in shooting (Campriani and Jessica Rossi, two youthful golds), confirmation from fencing (proving our mastery of the foil event: an Italian one-two-three for the women, both team golds and a timeless Vezzali). Idem bowed out with a fifth place that still placed her among the legends, Cammarelle with a silver that hinted of a "home-decision", after having led throughout his entire bout with Britain's Joshua. While Bolt proved he is king of the sprints and once again won the double in the 100 metres and 200 metres (also victorious in the sprint relay), Phelps waved farewell as star of the Games. See you in Rio in 2016.
Luca Tesconi silver Pisto and Rifle 10 M air pistol
Marco Galiazzo, Michele Frangilli, Mauro Nespoli gold Archery Team
Valentina Vezzali bronze Fencing Foil individual
Arianna Errigo silver Fencing Foil individual
Elisa Di Francisca gold Fencing Foil individual
Rosalba Forciniti bronze Judo 52 kg
Diego Occhiuzzi silver Fencing Sabre individual
Niccolò Campriani silver Pisto and Rifle 10 M rifle
Daniele Molmenti gold Canoeing K1 slalom
Alessio Sartori, Romano Battisti silver Rowing Double sculls
Valentina Vezzali, Ilaria Salvatori, Arianna Errigo, Elisa Di Francisca gold Fencing Foil team
Luigi Tarantino, Aldo Montano, Diego Occhiuzzi, Luigi Samele bronze Fencing Sabre team
Jessica Rossi gold Shotgun Trap
Andrea Cassarà, Valerio Aspromonte, Giorgio Avola, Andrea Baldini gold Fencing Foil team
Niccolò Campriani gold Pisto and Rifle rifle 3 positions
Matteo Morandi bronze Gymnastics rings
Massimo Fabbrizi silver Shotgun Trap
Martina Grimaldi bronze Marathon Swimming 10 Km
Fabrizio Donato bronze Athletics Triple jump
Vincenzo Mangiacapre bronze Boxing 64 kg cat.
Mauro Sarmiento bronze Taekwondo -80kg cat.
Clemente Russo silver Boxing 91 Kg
Carlo Molfetta gold Taekwondo +80kg cat.
Samuele Papi, Alessandro Fei, Luigi Mastrangelo, Ivan Zaytsev, Simone Parodi, Andrea Giovi, Cristian Savani, Michal Lasko, Emanuele Birarelli, Andrea Bari, Dante Boninfante, Dragan Travica bronze Volleyball Men's Tournament
Elisa Blanchi, Elisa Santoni, Marta Pagnini, Andreea Stefanescu, Romina Laurito, Anzhelika Savrayuk bronze Gymnastics Rhythmic Team
Marco Aurelio Fontana bronze Cicling Road mountain bike
Roberto Cammarelle silver Boxing SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT +91Kg
Matteo Aicardi, Maurizio Felugo, Pietro Figlioli, Deni Fiorentini, Valentino Gallo, Massimo Giacoppo, Alex Giorgetti, Niccolò Gitto, Giacomo Pastorino, Amaurys Perez, Danijel Premuš, Christian Presciutti, Stefano Tempesti silver Water Polo Men's Tournament