PALMISANO Antonella

Olympic Games

Year	Location	20km Race Walk
2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA	4th (1:29:03)

World Athletics Championships

Year	Location	20km Race Walk
2019	Doha, QAT	13th (1:37:36)
2017	London, GBR	3rd (1:26:36)
2015	Beijing, CHN	5th (1:29:34)
2013	Moscow, RUS	12th (1:30:50)

European Championships

Year	Location	20km Race Walk
2018	Berlin, GER	3rd (1:27:30)

World Race Walking Challenge - Ten best performances since 2020

Rank	Year	Event	Competition	Location	Result
1	2017	20km Race Walk	European Race Walking Team Championships	Podebrady, CZE	1:27:57
2	2018	20km Race Walk	World Race Walking Challenge	Rio Maior, POR	1:28:41
3	2018	20km Race Walk	European Championships	Berlin, GER	1:27:30
3	2017	20km Race Walk	World Athletics Championships	London, GBR	1:26:36
13	2019	20km Race Walk	World Athletics Championships	Doha, QAT	1:37:36
17	2018	20km Race Walk	World Race Walking Team Championships	Taicang, CHN	1:30:29

Legend
SF - Semifinal, QF - Quarterfinal, 1R - 1st Round, Qual. - Qualification, QR - Qualification Round, DNF - Did Not Finish, DNS - Did Not Start, DQ - Disqualified, NM - No Mark, [Relay athlete without time] - Did not run in final

Nelly, Cipo ['Onion']. (sport.sky.it, 23 Sep 2019)

Athlete

Husband Lorenzo Dessi

English, Italian

GA Fiamme Gialle [Rome, ITA]

Patrizio Parcesepe [club], ITA; Antonio La Torre [national], ITA

Her younger brother Michele was a national race walking champion at U15 level in Italy, and her husband Lorenzo Dessi has competed in the sport at international level. (charitystars.com, 24 Jul 2020; oasport.it, 29 Sep 2019; IAAF, 23 Jan 2016; trackarena.com, 22 Mar 2015)

She did not compete for five months in 2015 because of a hamstring injury. She finished fifth in the 20km walk at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, People's Republic of China, on her return to competition. (IAAF, 23 Jan 2016)

She first tried athletics in 2003 in Mottola, Italy, and began race walking in 2006. (IAAF, 23 Jan 2016; fidal.it, 13 Aug 2014)

She played volleyball and was then invited to train in athletics where she ran middle-distance. Race walking coach, Tommaso Gentile, saw her at a school competition and invited her to join his training group. "I realised that I had 'super powers' when one day in third grade they asked me to participate in a 2km race with the strongest of each class and I remember coming second after a boy, and from there I participated in a series of cross-country races where in disbelief I arrived first or third at most. When they took me to GA Fiamme Gialle in 2010 I understood that the children's athletics was over and that I was now a real professional." (sport.sky.it, 23 Sep 2019; IAAF, 23 Jan 2016; gazzetta.it, 18 May 2010)

To win a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (oasport.it, 24 Sep 2019)

Fictional boxer Rocky Balboa. (sport.sky.it, 23 Sep 2019)

"If you can dream it you can do it." (sport.sky.it, 23 Sep 2019)