Archery mourns the passing of Mario Codispoti, a historic figure of Italian and European archery, who passed away at the age of 97 after a life full of experiences, many of which linked to the FITARCO national team.
To his wife Lola, his daughter Luisa, his brother Antonio and all the family members, the federal President, Vittorio Polidori, the federal management and the entire archery world express their deepest condolences, grateful to Mario Codispoti for what he has given to our sport, allowing the Italian archer to take off towards his first great international successes.
Born in Trieste on 28 October 1928, Mario Codispoti, passionate about music and hunting, became acquainted with archery during his long experience abroad as a musician. Drummer, singer and leader of the orchestra where he played with his guitarist brother, Antonio Codispoti, also a passionate archer who arrived to wear the blue shirt in the ’73 World Cup and the ’74 European Championship after even coming close to being called up for the ’72 Munich Games, he toured northern Europe proposing dance and entertainment music in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland.
In Denmark he met his wife Lola and there, in 1967, their daughter Luisa was born, who also entered the world of archery until wearing the shirt of the national youth team and that of the senior national team FITARCO, with which she played a European and a world championship, in 1990 and 1991 respectively.
It was his brother Antonio, born in 1939, who introduced him to archery while they were in Denmark. After having gained good experience as an archer abroad, Mario Codispoti returned to Italy in the early 1970s with rather advanced knowledge which pushed the Federation to send him to the USA, where he had the opportunity to deepen and further refine his learning of the archery discipline.
Mario Codispoti with Renato Doni and Giancarlo Ferrari at the Moscow ’80 Olympic Games
Upon his return to Italy he became the coach of the national team who, alongside Renato Doni as technical director, led Italy to its first major international successes thanks above all to the “wonder duo” Ferrari-Spigarelli.
“His great merit – explains Sante Spigarelli – was that of being an extremely reliable person, capable of establishing very engaging human relationships and friendships even at work”, while another historical figure of Italian archery such as Nino Oddo, had defined him as his “magical coach”.
In fact, under Codispoti’s technical guidance, Italy won its first Olympic medals thanks to Giancarlo Ferrari, whom Codispoti followed personally: bronze at the Montreal ’76 Games and then bronze again in Moscow ’80.
Historic results, which were added to the world and European podiums in target shooting. In 1977, at the World Championships in Canberra, Italy won the individual bronze with De Nardi and the team silver (De Nardi, Ferrari, Spigarelli, Bonalumi), while in the continental event in Zagreb, in ’74, the team bronze arrived thanks to Ferrari, Spigarelli, Massazza and his brother Antonio.
Double podium also at the ’76 European Championships in Copenhagen, where the Azzurri followed by Codispoti won individual silver with Spigarelli and another team bronze (Spigarelli, Ferrari, Mingozzi, Belloni).
There were also numerous successes achieved in those years by the national shooting team which, between 1974 and 1980, won 7 medals in the world championships, which at the time were also valid for the European podiums.
The Azzurri of Montreal ’76 with Mario Codispoti
After his successful experiences at the helm of Italy, Mario Codispoti went to coach the French national team, where he remained from 1985 to 1989. An experience that lasted until the call from Turkey, where Codispoti remained from 1989 to 2004, creating a true masterpiece in laying the foundations for creating a national team which, at the time, was still in its infancy.
Thanks to the help of his friend Ugur Erdener who, after having led the Turkish federation, subsequently became president of the European and then the world federation, the federal technical center in Antalya was founded where Codispoti settled for many years training numerous archers and technicians, laying the foundations for creating what is now one of the best national teams in the world. Some of his students have in fact continued his work reaching the top of the international scene: among these, coach Yusuf Goktug Ergin, technical director of the Turkish national team and coach of Olympian and world champion Mete Gazoz, also grew up under the protective wing of Mario Codispoti.
Mario Codispoti, Turkey coach, together with his daughter Luisa, who wears the blue shirt
After his long Turkish experience, Mario Codispoti returned to Italy in 2004, settling in Farra d’Isonzo, in the province of Gorizia, from where he continued to follow the world of archery. In recent years he no longer frequented the competition fields, but his great contribution to archery certainly remains in the memory of many archers, having been a precursor and a fundamental man for the growth of this sport.
A person of sympathy and great culture, capable of speaking fluently in addition to Italian, English, French, Danish, German and Turkish, Mario Codispoti passed away at the age of 97, after a full life.
Mario Codispoti’s funeral will be held on Saturday 27 December, at 10:00, in the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Farra d’Isonzo (Go).
Mario Codispoti with Nino Oddo at the FITARCO fiftieth anniversary party
