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Giovanni Corazza

Category

Athlete

Sport

Athletics

Hometown

Moncton

Year Inducted

2001

Sport Ambassador

athlete

Giovanni Corazza

HONOURED MEMBER

Biography

The 1980 Canadian javelin champion was Moncton’s Giovanni Corazza.His career as an elite athlete began at École Vanier where he won three consecutive New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association titles. After a brief stint at the Université de Moncton he moved to the University of Ottawa to take advantage of the expertise of Bill Heikkila, Canada’s national javelin coach. What followed were successes at the World Cup in Mexico, the Pan-Pacific Games in Australia, the World Student Games in Bulgaria, as well as at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. In the boycott year of 1980 he was successful in winning gold medals at the Alternate Olympics in Dusseldorf, West Germany, at Crystal Palace in London, England, and at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, where he recorded his best-ever performance of 84.34 metres. Enrolled in the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, June 2nd, 2001

Quick Facts

  • Competed in athletics 1970-1980 

  • Provincial interscholastic champion in javelin 1970-1972 

  • Canadian javelin Champion 1979; runner-up, 1980 

  • In 1977, represented Canada at World Cup trials (silver medal); World Student Games (9th place) and Pan Pacific Games (bronze medal) 

  • Competed at Commonwealth Games, 1978 

  • Qualified for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, but didn’t compete due to the boycott by Canada and others 

  • Competed at the "Alternate Olympics" in 1980, a series of competitions held in Europe & attended by the countries boycotting the Moscow Olympics and won gold medals at meets in Oslo, London, and Dusseldorf; and the bronze medal in Paris (1980) 

  • His personal best throw of 84.34 meters ranked as the third-best all-time in Canada in 1980

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