Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has confirmed the death of the country’s two-time Olympic 800m finalist Donato Sabia from Coronavirus disease.
Sabia, according to Coni, died at 56 after some days in the intensive care unit of the San Carlo Hospital, Potenza, in the Basilicata region of Italy.
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According to reports, the father of the former Olympian had also died of the Coronavirus disease a few days earlier.
Sabia represented Italy at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and at the 1988 Games in Seoul where he finishes fifth and seventh respectively in the 800m event.
He was a 800m gold medalist at the European Indoor Championships in 1984.
According to Coni, Sabia is the first Olympic finalist in the world to die of the Coronavirus disease.
Italian Athletics Federation (Fidal), describes him as, “an extraordinarily talented athlete but, above all, a gentle person.”
“It’s a tragedy within a tragedy, Donato was a person who you couldn’t not love,” Fidal president, Alfio Giomi, said.
