It was almost 20 years ago that the Hungarian city of Nyiregyhaza staged the European Athletics Junior Championships and at the time, few might have taken notice of the 18-year-old Italian finishing fifth in the triple jump.
But two decades on, the sport could not miss his achievements in Cheboksary on Sunday when he won the event at the European Athletics Team Championships. From youngster to veteran, Fabrizio Donato remains one of the great stars of track and field.The fact these championships do not return until 2017 –- missing next summer because it is an Olympic year – poses the possibility that it could have been the last time Donato hops, skips and jumps his way on this particular stage as by then he will be 40.
But maybe not. The older he becomes, the brighter the fire for victory burns within him it seems as he showed in Russia by landing maximum points for his country.He needed just the one effort in the triple jump, a first round leap of 17.11m which was enough for a clear win over Aleksey Fyodorova, of Russia, with 16.92m, and Finland’s Simo Lipsanen with 16.62m.
Donato, who is 39 in August, had fouls on his next two jumps before skipping the last after Fyodorova failed to overtake him and then his celebrations could begin, raising both hands in the air as he turned to the crowd.Donato is an athlete who has achieved his best success later in his career.
It was in 2009 that the Latina-born competitor won his first major gold medal and the venue could not have been more fitting, in front of his own fans in Turin at the European Athletics Indoor Championships when he broke the national record with 17.59m.At 32, it was the impetus which then drove him to win silver two years later when he took that indoor record to 17.73m before the best spell of his career in 2012.
In Helsinki with a jump of 17.63m, Donato was crowned European champion and then a few weeks later made the podium at the Olympic Games in London taking bronze with 17.48m.As he showed on Sunday, the run of success has not stopped.