Giancarlo Peris with the Olympic torch at the 1960 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
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Personal information | |
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Nationality | Italian |
Born |
Civitavecchia, Italy |
4 November 1941
Sport | |
Country | Italy |
Sport | Athletics |
Event(s) | Cross country running |
Giancarlo Peris (born 4 November 1941), an Italian track athlete of Greek descent, was the final bearer of the Olympic torch for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.
Peris was born in Civitavecchia, a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea 70 kilometers northwest of Rome. The Italian National Olympic Committee decided that the last torchbearer of the Olympic Games would be the winner of a junior Cross country running race. Peris won and was chosen to be the last torchbearer. Peris was also a promising track athlete and few months before the opening of the Olympic games he competed for his country's national junior/youth team against Poland.
He later became a teacher of history and Italian at the technical high-school "G. Baccelli" of Civitavecchia. He also coached at a small athletics club.