Francesco Arese, the 1971 European 1500m champion has been elected as the President of the Italian Athletics Federation FIDAL.
During the 39th Assembly of the Italian Federation which was held on Saturday 27 November, Arese, received 92 495 votes, the equivalent of 91.55% of all votes.
“The last two years have been very intense,” said Arese. “I have worked very hard, with serenity and never offending anyone. This was my first time in an Assembly and I felt at home. We now have to remain united and work together to serve the sport of athletics.”
Arese who had a personal best for 1500m of 3:36.3, and was four-times national champion at both 800m and 1500m (and once at 5000m) in the late 1960s and early 70s, succeeds long-time serving Gianni Gola as FIDAL President.
Arese won the 1971 European 1500m title in Helsinki in 3:38.4 beating Henryk Szordykowski of Poland (3:38.7) and Brendan Foster of Britain (3:39.2).
A new FIDAL Vice-President will be elected next week.