Donatella Sacchi

Donatella Sacchi
OMRI
Personal information
NationalityItalian
Born (1959-07-16) 16 July 1959
Novara, Italy
Height164 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Sport
SportArtistic Gymnastics

Donatella Sacchi (born 16 July 1959) is an Italian former gymnast. She competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics.[1] At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she served as the president of the superior jury evaluating women's artistic gymnastics.[2]

Personal life

Donatella Sacchi was born in 1959 to her parents Mariuccia and Davide, who were the founders and owners of Libertas Ginnastica, a gymnastics gym in Novara.[3][4] She has a brother named Andrea who was also a gymnast. He is the coach of Italian gymnast Enrico Pozzo.[4]

Her husband, Massimo Contaldo, owns the Quisquash gym in Novara and is the team manager of Italy's women's gymnastics team.[5]

Sacchi speaks Italian, English, Russian, German, and French.[6]

Athletic career

At the junior level, Sacchi won gold in the all-around at the Italian championships in 1973.[6]

As a gymnast competing at the senior level, Sacchi placed 9th in the all-around at the Italian Championships in 1975.[7] In the same year, she also won a gold medal at the 1975 Mediterranean games in the team event.[3] She placed 13th in the all-around.[8]

At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, she placed 71st in the individual all-around and did not qualify for finals.[9] In the team event, Italy scored 365.100 points, putting them last, in 12th place behind the Netherlands.[10][9]

Career in gymnastics

Italian national team

After retiring from competing in 1976, she became the national coach for the junior and senior Italian teams for women's artistic gymnastics in 1977.[6] She continued to be the coach until 1984. In January 2005, she was put in charge of the Italian national teams.[6]

Judging and work at the FIG

Sacchi began judging women's artistic gymnastics internationally in 1993.[6] In 2004, she was selected to judge women's artistic gymnastics at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.[11] Following the Olympics, she joined the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) as a member of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee. In 2016, she was elected uncontested as president of the technical committee where she has been appointed since.[12]

In 2021, Sacchi began chairing the new Safeguarding Working Group within the FIG, a working group aiming to promote gymnast welfare in the sport.[13][14]

During the floor exercise bronze medal controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the implicated gymnasts representing Romania, Ana Bărbosu and Sabrina Voinea, along with the Romanian Gymnastics Federation launched a dispute against Sacchi and the FIG at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).[15] The dispute resulted in a reallocation of the bronze medal from Jordan Chiles to Bărbosu.[16] In the ruling, Sacchi was found to have acted reasonably in accepting Chiles' inquiry and that the responsibility for the error was to be placed on the FIG, and not Sacchi.[17][18]

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Senior
1975 Italian Championships 9
Mediterranean Games 13
1976 Olympic Games 12 71 66 78 63 52

Awards

In 2006, she was awarded the "Novara Citizen of the Year" award.[3][6]

On May 18th 2021, she was awarded the title of "Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic"[11][19]

References

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Donatella Sacchi Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Judges Assignments" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Donatella Sacchi, unica novarese ai Giochi: "Ginnastica, orgoglio italiano"". La Stampa (in Italian). 19 August 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Si è spento Davide Sacchi, fondatore della Libertas Novara e caposquadra di una dinastia ginnica". www.federginnastica.it. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  5. ^ Redazione (6 August 2024). "Con Donatella Sacchi c'è anche Novara nell'oro della ginnastica alle Olimpiadi". La Voce Novara e Laghi (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Ginnastica artistica, una novarese ai vertici della Federazione Internazionale". Corriere di Novara (in Italian). 21 October 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  7. ^ "Gymn Forum: 1975 Italian Champs., Women's AA". www.gymn-forum.net. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Gymn Forum: 1975 Mediterranean Games, Women's AA". www.gymn-forum.net. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Donatella Sacchi". Olympics.com. 12 September 2025. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  10. ^ Lauren (1 August 1976). "1976 Olympic Games Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Donatella Sacchi honoured in Italy". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  12. ^ "A New Era in Gymnastics". The Gymternet. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  13. ^ "We're the National Governing Body for gymnastics in the UK". www.british-gymnastics.org. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  14. ^ "New working group on safeguarding - Information for athletes who want to contribute". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  15. ^ "Paris 2024: Court of Arbitration for Sport decisions". Hall & Wilcox. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  16. ^ Journal, Romania (10 August 2024). "Gymnastics: Ana Barbosu gets the bronze medal". The Romania Journal. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  17. ^ Gallagher, Michael (22 August 2024). "Inconsistencies in CAS' Jordan Chiles Ruling Leaves More Questions Than Answers". AthlonSports. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  18. ^ Brunetti, Mariacarmela (18 September 2024). "From Bercy Arena to CAS: the whole truth about the contention for Olympic bronze between Ana Barbosu and Jordan Chiles in an interview with Donatella Sacchi". GINNASTICANDO.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  19. ^ "Novara - Donatella Sacchi riceve l'onorificenza di cavaliere della Repubblica". www.federginnastica.it. Retrieved 9 December 2025.


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