Agostino Straulino

Agostino Straulino

Personal information
Nationality	Italy
Born	(1914-10-10)October 10, 1914 Lussinpiccolo, Austria-Hungary
Died	December 14, 2004(2004-12-14) (aged 90) Rome, Italy
Sailing career
Class(es)	Star
Medal record Sailing Representing  Italy Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki Star class 1956 Melbourne Star class World Championships 1952 Cascais Star class 1953 Naples Star class 1956 Naples Star class 1965 Naples 5.5m 1939 Kiel Star class 1948 Cascais Star class 1954 Cascais Star class

Agostino Straulino (October 10, 1914 – December 14, 2004) was an Italian sailor and sailboat racer, who won one Olympic gold medal and one silver medal in the Star class, and eight consecutive European championships and two world championships in this class and was world champion in the 5.5m-class.^[1]

Biography

Straulino was born in Lussinpiccolo (Mali Lošinj), on the island of Lussino (Lošinj) (at that time part of Austria-Hungary, but now part of Croatia).

Straulino gained his first sailing experiences as a child on the Kvarner Gulf of the northern Adriatic Sea. He later attended the Naval Academy at Livorno and embarked on a career in the Italian navy. At the 1936 Summer Olympics he was a reserve sailor. During World War II Straulino served in the Italian Decima Flottiglia MAS during its operations in Gibraltar. After the war he became the commanding officer of the Italian training vessel Amerigo Vespucci for some time and eventually rose to the rank of Rear Admiral. He first competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics and finished fifth in the Star class.

Between 1949 and 1956 Straulino won eight consecutive European championships in the starboat class. In 1952 and 1953 he was also world champion in this class. The climax of his career as a sportsman was his gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.^[2] Four years later he won the silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. After his partner Nicolò Rode (also from Lussino/Lošinj) quit, Straulino continued to compete at Olympic games with his new partner Carlo Rolandi in the starboat class (1960 Summer Olympics, Rome, fourth place) and the 5.5m-class (1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo, fourth place). A year later he won the world championship in the 5.5m-class.

He continued to compete in regattas in bigger boats and won the One Ton Cup off Porto Cervo in 1973 and the Italian Giraglia long-distance-race. Mali Lošinj pronounced him an honorable citizen . Straulino was the initiator of Lošinjska regata, a sailing competition.^[3] Straulino died in Rome in 2004.

Non-sporting biography

Like most Italians living in territories which, after World War II, were ceded to the new socialist state of Yugoslavia, the property of his family was nationalized and expropriated by Tito, and despite leaving of the island of his birth at a young age, Straulino was so deeply in love with his island that he was regular visitor, especially after he retired and always wanted to know what was going on Lošinj.

In line with his final wish, he was buried in the town of birth, Mali Lošinj (formerly Lussinpiccolo).^[4]

References

External links

• Istria on the Internet, Prominent Istrians: Agostino Straulino
• 2003 Biography in English