Donatella Sacchi
OMRI
NationalityItalian
Height cm164
SportArtistic Gymnastics
Birth date16 July 1959 (age 67)
Birth placeNovara, Italy

Donatella Sacchi (born 16 July 1959) is an Italian former gymnast. She competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics.[1] At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she served as the president of the superior jury evaluating women's artistic gymnastics.[2]

Personal life

Donatella Sacchi was born in 1959 to her parents Mariuccia and Davide, who were the founders and owners of Libertas Ginnastica, a gymnastics gym in Novara.[3][4] She has a brother named Andrea who was also a gymnast. He is the coach of Italian gymnast Enrico Pozzo.[4]

Her husband, Massimo Contaldo, owns the Quisquash gym in Novara and is the team manager of Italy's women's gymnastics team.[5]

Sacchi speaks Italian, English, Russian, German, and French.[6]

Athletic career

At the junior level, Sacchi won gold in the all-around at the Italian championships in 1973.[6]

As a gymnast competing at the senior level, Sacchi placed 9th in the all-around at the Italian Championships in 1975.[7] In the same year, she also won a gold medal at the 1975 Mediterranean games in the team event.[3] She placed 13th in the all-around.[8]

At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, she placed 71st in the individual all-around and did not qualify for finals.[9] In the team event, Italy scored 365.100 points, putting them last, in 12th place behind the Netherlands.[10][9]

Career in gymnastics

Italian national team

After retiring from competing in 1976, she became the national coach for the junior and senior Italian teams for women's artistic gymnastics in 1977.[6] She continued to be the coach until 1984. In January 2005, she was put in charge of the Italian national teams.[6]

Judging and work at the FIG

Sacchi began judging women's artistic gymnastics internationally in 1993.[6] In 2004, she was selected to judge women's artistic gymnastics at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.[11] Following the Olympics, she joined the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) as a member of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee. In 2016, she was elected uncontested as president of the technical committee where she has been appointed since.[12]

In 2021, Sacchi began chairing the new Safeguarding Working Group within the FIG, a working group aiming to promote gymnast welfare in the sport.[13][14]

During the floor exercise bronze medal controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the implicated gymnasts representing Romania, Ana Bărbosu and Sabrina Voinea, along with the Romanian Gymnastics Federation launched a dispute against Sacchi and the FIG at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).[15] The dispute resulted in a reallocation of the bronze medal from Jordan Chiles to Bărbosu.[16] In the ruling, Sacchi was found to have acted reasonably in accepting Chiles' inquiry and that the responsibility for the error was to be placed on the FIG, and not Sacchi.[17][18]

Competitive history

YearEventTeamAAVTUBBBFX
Senior
1975Italian Championships9
Mediterranean Games13
1976Olympic Games127166786352

Awards

In 2006, she was awarded the "Novara Citizen of the Year" award.[3][6]

On May 18th 2021, she was awarded the title of "Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic"[11][19]

References

  1. ^ "Donatella Sacchi Olympic Results". Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Judges Assignments". Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Donatella Sacchi, unica novarese ai Giochi: “Ginnastica, orgoglio italiano”" (in Italian). La Stampa. 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  4. ^ "Si è spento Davide Sacchi, fondatore della Libertas Novara e caposquadra di una dinastia ginnica". www.federginnastica.it. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  5. ^ Redazione (2024-08-06). "Con Donatella Sacchi c'è anche Novara nell'oro della ginnastica alle Olimpiadi" (in it-IT). La Voce Novara e Laghi. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  6. ^ "Ginnastica artistica, una novarese ai vertici della Federazione Internazionale" (in Italian). Corriere di Novara. 2016-10-21. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  7. ^ "Gymn Forum: 1975 Italian Champs., Women's AA". www.gymn-forum.net. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  8. ^ "Gymn Forum: 1975 Mediterranean Games, Women's AA". www.gymn-forum.net. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  9. ^ "Donatella Sacchi". Olympics.com. 2025-09-12. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  10. ^ Lauren (1976-08-01). "1976 Olympic Games Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  11. ^ "Donatella Sacchi honoured in Italy". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  12. ^ "A New Era in Gymnastics". The Gymternet. 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  13. ^ "We’re the National Governing Body for gymnastics in the UK.". www.british-gymnastics.org. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  14. ^ "New working group on safeguarding - Information for athletes who want to contribute". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  15. ^ "Paris 2024: Court of Arbitration for Sport decisions". Hall & Wilcox. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  16. ^ Journal, Romania (2024-08-10). "Gymnastics: Ana Barbosu gets the bronze medal". The Romania Journal. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  17. ^ Gallagher, Michael (2024-08-22). "Inconsistencies in CAS’ Jordan Chiles Ruling Leaves More Questions Than Answers". AthlonSports. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  18. ^ Brunetti, Mariacarmela (2024-09-18). "From Bercy Arena to CAS: the whole truth about the contention for Olympic bronze between Ana Barbosu and Jordan Chiles in an interview with Donatella Sacchi" (in it-IT). GINNASTICANDO.it. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  19. ^ "Novara - Donatella Sacchi riceve l'onorificenza di cavaliere della Repubblica". www.federginnastica.it. Retrieved 2025-12-09.