| Sante Gaiardoni | |
| Fullname: | Sante Gaiardoni |
| Birth Date: | 1939 6, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Villafranca di Verona, Italy |
| Death Place: | Motta Visconti, Italy |
| Weight: | 66kg (146lb) |
| Role: | Rider |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Sante Gaiardoni (29 June 1939 – 30 November 2023) was an Italian cyclist. He won two gold medals at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, in the 1000 m time trial and the 1000 m sprint. Between 1958 and 1970 he won two gold, four silver and two bronze medals in sprint events at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
After retirement in 1971 he ran a bicycle shop in Lorenteggio, Milan. In the 2000s he was active in politics and took part in the 2006 Italian municipal elections. In 2010, together with journalist Francesco Lodi, he published a book Quando la Rabbia si trasforma in Vittoria ("When the anger turns into victory") describing his early life until 1960.[1] Gaiardoni died in Motta Visconti on 30 November 2023, at the age of 84.[2]
On 7 May 2015, in the presence of the President of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), Giovanni Malagò, Gaiardoni was inaugurated into the Olympic Park of the Foro Italico in Rome, along with Viale delle Olimpiadi, the Walk of Fame of Italian sport, consisting of 100 tiles that chronologically report names of the most representative athletes in the history of Italian sport. On each tile there is the name of the sportsman, the sport in which he distinguished himself and the symbol of CONI. One of the tiles is dedicated to Sante Gaiardoni.[3]