Egidio ARMELLONI

Egidio Armelloni was considered a favorite to make the Italian Olympic team in 1932. He joined the military in 1929 but in 1930 was arrested and accused of participating in clandestine meetings with the Communist Party. In November 1931, Armelloni was convicted by a Special Tribunal, and sentenced to two years in prison in the military Gaeta, with the sentence reading, “… intense propaganda activities in industrial plants, proselytizing among the military, the spread of clandestine paper The Awakening.” He was imprisoned in Gaeta until 28 October 1932 when an amnesty for the 10th anniversary of the March on Rome allowed him to be released.

He was asked to sign a letter denying his activities but refused. As a result, Italian authorities also tried to ban him from the 1936 Olympics, but Giorgio Vaccaro, Secretary-General of CONI (Italian Olympic Committee), put Armelloni on the team for Berlin, and he again made the team in 1948, although by then the best he could place in any individual event was 38th on pommelled horse. He later coached gymnastics for over 60 years at the Mediolanum.