Athletics - Team Italy

General
Italy are making their sixth Olympic appearance at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, having debuted at Moscow 1980. They have reached the final on two occasions since then, beginning with a sixth-place finish at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. The Italian team also made the final at the 2016 Games in Rio where they originally finished sixth, but in 2020 they were promoted to fifth following the disqualification of Ukraine for an anti-doping violation.

It is a similar story at the world championships, with 11 campaigns at the tournament since 1987 but few appearances in the final. Frustratingly for the Italians, they finished with the ninth-fastest time at the three editions of the tournament from 2015 to 2019.

Italy qualified for Tokyo by making the final of the 2021 World Relays, where they were ranked fifth. They were bronze medallists at the 2019 World Relays in Yokohama, finishing behind Poland and the United States of America.