Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
Livio Berruti, Italy’s 1960 Olympic 200m champion, died on Sunday at age 87. He gained international acclaim at the Rome Olympic Games by matching the world 200m record twice on 3 September 1960—first in the semi-finals and then in the final, both times clocking 20.5 seconds. His victory made him the first athlete from outside North America to win the men’s 200m title and Italy’s first Olympic sprint champion. Berruti was 21 years old and studying chemistry at the time of his triumph in front of a home crowd at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
Born in Turin on 19 May 1939, Berruti began athletics in 1955 after initially aiming to pursue tennis. He became one of Italy’s top sprinters and, at the inaugural Universiade in 1959, won gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. He added another Universiade relay gold in Tokyo in 1967. Berruti was also a strong 100m runner, setting Italian and equalling European records with a 10.2-second mark in 1960. Between 1957 and 1962, he won the Italian 100m and 200m national titles each season, and added more 200m titles in 1965 and 1968.
He represented Italy at three Olympic Games: in Tokyo 1964, he reached the 200m final and finished fifth, helping the relay team reach the final; in Mexico City 1968, he made the 200m quarter-finals and contributed to the relay team finishing seventh. His international career spanned over a decade with 41 appearances for Italy. After retiring from competition in 1969, Berruti completed his chemistry studies, worked in public relations, and remained a respected figure in Italian athletics. In April 2024, he met Italy’s relay squad at the renovated Stadio dei Marmi before the European Championships in Rome, near the Olympic Stadium where he achieved his famous victory.