Marco Marchei

Marco Marchei is a retired Italian long-distance runner who raced the marathon. He was born on 2 August 1954 in Castignano, in the province of Ascoli Piceno. He represented Italy at two Summer Olympics, in 1980 and in 1984, and he set his personal best of 2 hours 11 minutes 47 seconds in the men's marathon at the World Championships in Athletics on 14 August 1983. Beyond the Games and the world championships, his career belongs to the strong generation of Italian marathoners of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is also the father of Valentina Marchei, who became a figure skater and later competed at the Winter Olympics, which gives the family a rare place in the history of both summer and winter Olympic sport.