Posted: November 3, 2004

Athletics: After Venice, A New "Enthusiasm" For Goffi

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Alberto Zorzi

Watching Stefano Baldini win Olympic gold, Danilo Goffi was, like many Italians, inspired.

"It was a very exciting race," said Goffi, who watched the race on television. "Baldini taught all of us what sacrifice means and what you can reach working hard."

Goffi, one of the most experienced Italian runners, has run fifteen marathons, competed in several major championships. His most recent race, a runner-up finish at the Venice Marathon in 2:09:55, signaled a comeback of sorts for the 31-year-old, who said his life changed after he left his former coach Giorgio Rondelli to join Luciano Gigliotti's group, one which includes the Olympic champion.

Over the past year, Goffi and Baldini sometimes trained together in Modena. A few days before Baldini left for Athens, Goffi paced him in one of his last important training sessions. In Venice he broke the 2:10 barrier for the first time since 1998. It was the first ray of light after a long professional nightmare.

Goffi's marathon career began in a stunning way in Venice in 1995 when he was just 23. Baldini, one year his senior, debuted in that race as well. Another rising Italian star, Giacomo Leone –who would win the New York City Marathon the following year—was in the race as well. Goffi made an unexpected move with five kilometers left to win in 2:09:26, the eighth fastest performance of the year. Leone was second in 2:09:34 with Baldini a distant sixth in 2:11:01. Many observers still say it was the best marathon ever run in Italy.

"I had kind of the typical madness of the debutant," Goffi recalls. "I prepared in some seven weeks. It meant that the marathon distance fitted me very well."

The following spring Goffi was sixth behind Paul Tergat’s remarkable 58:51 in the Stramilano Half Marathon with a solid 1:01:23. The course was later ruled to be 49 meters short, but still proved Goffi’s talents. Despite having run just once over the distance, Goffi was named to Italy's squad for the Atlanta Olympics where he was the first Italian across the line, finishing ninth in 2:15:08. Since Atlanta, Goffi has proved to be one of the most consistent marathon runners in the world, particularly in major championships.

In 1997, after lowering his PB in Rotterdam with 2:09:13, he was fourth at the World Championships in Athens (2:14:47) and two years later was fifth in Seville’s edition of the World Championships. In the year between, he was the silver medallist and part of the Italian podium sweep at the European championships won by Baldini. A few months earlier, he lowered his PB to 2:08:33, again in Rotterdam, probably his finest overall performance ever.

"The lead pack started running at a really suicidal pace," he recalls. "I was dropped early and ran alone for the most of the race. In the last part I overcame many and closed in a good third." Fabian Roncero, who won the race in 2:07:26, was on a world record pace until the closing kilometers.

In 1999, he admits, began a series of mistakes.

"Sevilla's race was really hard. I was not satisfied with the fifth place, so I decided to run in New York two months later. It was a big mistake, because I had not completely recovered. I finished 11th with a 2:14:25 and my confidence really fell."

He arrived in London in 2000 ready for a sub-2:08, but finished more than four minutes behind winner Antonio Pinto, tenth in 2:10:54. Left off the 2000 Olympic team, he watched the Sydney race on television. After a pair of 2:10 performances in the fall and following spring, he was a disappointing 13th at the 2002 European Championships, clocking 2:15:52.

"In the last few years I was not able to be consistent. I had up-and-down results. I made some wrong choices and I paid them. I lost motivation."

After another sub-par 2:11:23 performance in the Milan Marathon in November 2003, Goffi decided it was time for a change. "I needed something new in my training, as I had such an awful closing in Milan. I phoned Gigliotti and he accepted to train me."

He often travelled to Modena to train with the new coach and began a regimen that included weeks of heavy distance work, up to 215 kilometers per week. Despite early results under Gigliotti –sixth in the Rome-Ostia Half Marathon in 1:03:58 and a DNF at 30 kilometers in the Turin Marathon—he displayed a new attitude in the Padua Marathon just a week after his effort in Turin. In spite of fatigue from Turin, he was fifth in Padua in 2:11:07.

"In Turin the problem was in my mind, not in my legs. At halfway I did not want to suffer any more. In Padua I realized I was on the right way."

His performance in Venice two weeks ago confirmed his commitment.

"I am sure that in a flat and regular marathon I could have run a sub-2:09 time." His goal now, he says, is another shot at the World title, scheduled for 13-August in Helsinki.

"I can get it, because I found the enthusiasm again. Even if I ran a marathon a few days ago, now I already feel recovered. I am looking forward to start running again.

Goffi lives near Milan with his wife Tatiana, a physical education teacher, and their son Gabriele, who was born last 19 May.

"I know it will be not easy, but I think that the game is worth the candle. When grown up, I hope that my son will be proud to have a father like me."