An Italian Olympic weightlifter won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Games while on trial for rape in his home country, according to new reports on Tuesday.
Antonino Pizzolato finished third for Italy in the 81kg snatch, clean and jerk event this summer, but it was a 29-year-old Finnish tourist's journey to Sicily that began long before the Olympics. The newspaper reported that the outcome came during the ongoing trial of the gang rape case. italian publications corriere della sera.
The charges appear to be filed in July 2022, with the trial set to begin in December 2023, according to the report.
Pizzolato is a defendant in the case along with his friends Davide Lupo, Claudio Tutino and Stefano Mongiovi.
The incident is believed to have taken place where Lupo was staying.
All were charged with rape of a person “who has limited self-control and is in a state of stupor and mental repression that precludes them from vigorously resisting acts of violence.”
The Italian court heard that the victim met the defendants at a restaurant, they became friends, and went to a beach club with the defendants and two other friends.
She also testified in court that she returned to one of the defendant's rooms in an inebriated state. There, she claimed that all four men raped her to the point that she cried and begged them to stop.
Corriere della Sera's report also states that after reporting the incident to police, she was examined at a hospital and that witness reports corroborate the victim's statements about the incident.
Pizzolato, who also competed in the Tokoyo Olympics, has had a somewhat checkered career in the sport, including being suspended for 10 months by the Italian Weightlifting Federation in 2018. He pleaded guilty to bullying and intimidation of a teammate who was underage at the time.
His bronze medal at the Paris Games was also controversial as it was suspected that he had illegally bent his arm while lifting 384kg.
Bulgaria's Carlos Nassar, who set a new world record, won the event, followed by Colombia's Eison López in second place.
