Livio Berruti, the Italian track-and-field sprinter who won the 200 meters at the 1960 Rome Olympics, died on Aug. 9, 2026, at age 87, Corriere della Sera reported.
Berruti began athletics as a student at Turin’s Liceo Cavour school in 1955–56. His early sprint results led him to continue with athletics rather than pursue tennis.
At the Rome Olympics on Sept. 3, 1960, Berruti ran 20.5 seconds in the 200-meter semifinal, matching the world record. He ran the same time in the final later that day, matching the record again and winning the Olympic title. The victory made him the first European to win the Olympic men’s 200 meters. That 20.5-second time remained a world record through 1963.
After his Rome victory, Berruti continued to compete for Italy at the 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico City Olympics. At Tokyo, he finished fifth in the 200 meters in 20.83 seconds and was the highest-placed European in the race. At the 1968 Mexico City Games, he competed in both the 200-meter event and Italy’s 4×100-meter relay, in which four runners each cover 100 meters. He was eliminated in the 200-meter quarterfinals, while the Italian relay team finished seventh.
At the 2006 Turin Winter Games, decades after his competitive Olympic appearances, Berruti returned to the city where he had begun athletics and took part in the closing ceremony. He was one of eight Italian athletes chosen to carry the Olympic flag.
