Anthony J. Lobello Jr. (born August 15, 1984, in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...

) is a retired

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

, inline speed skater, and coach who competed for the

United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

and for

Italy at the 2014 Winter Olympics Italy competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, from 7 to 23 February 2014. One athlete, bobsledder William Frullani, had been tested positive for methylhexanamine and was sent home from Sochi. For the first time since 1980, Italy fail ...

. He also competed in the US team's

2010 Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

qualifying event, held in

Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is the county seat of Marquette County, Michigan, Marquette County and the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. Located on the shores of Lake Superior, Marquette is a major port known primarily for shippin ...

in September 2009, although he was not selected for the team after being hampered by illness during the trials. Lobello was educated at Holy Comforter Episcopal School and Maclay School: he was a keen athlete, competing in track and playing

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

as well as becoming an accomplished inline skater. In 2003 he started attending

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designa ...

on a sports scholarship, with the aim of making the transition from roller to ice skating with the aim of competing at the Winter Olympics. With only three years of speed skating experience prior to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, Lobello surprised the field and made the team: he placed 23rd in the 500 meters at the Games. He was the highest ranking American (7th) in the 500-meter event for the 2008–2009 World Cup season, ahead of Olympic gold medalist

Apolo Anton Ohno Apolo Anton Ohno (; born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fa ...

. Lobello was named Colorado's Red-Hot Bachelor by ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'' magazine in 2005. Lobello was an undergraduate student at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, majoring in communications. He began dating Italian skater

Arianna Fontana Arianna Fontana OMRI (born 14 April 1990) is an Italian short track speed skater, who has won eleven Olympic medals among these two gold medals in the 500m short track, one at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and the second one at the 2022 ...

in 2012: the couple were engaged the following year and married in May 2014 in

Colico Colico (Comasco, Comasque: or ; ) is a town and comune in the province of Lecco, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated on the northern arm of Lake Como, where the river Adda (river), Adda enters the lake. Colico is the largest town i ...

. The couple split their time between homes in

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; (); or ; ; ) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski centre, hot spring spas, bresa ...

Courmayeur Courmayeur (; ; Valdôtain: ) is a town and ''comune'' in northern Italy, in the autonomous region of Aosta Valley. History The toponym ''Courmayeur'' has been mentioned as ''Curia majori'' (1233–1381), ''Corte Maggiore'' (1620), ''Cormoyeu'' (1 ...

and Lobello's hometown of Tallahassee. After a troubled relationship with US Speedskating, Lobello elected to switch nationality to compete for Italy in 2012, being eligible through his Italian paternal grandfather. His appearance at the 2014 Games made him the first American sportsperson to compete for a second nation at a Winter Games having previously competed for the US national team ( Rena Inoue,

Clay Ives James "Clay" Ives (born September 5, 1972) is a Canadian-born American luger who competed from the early 1990s until his 2002 retirement. Competing in three Winter Olympics (the first two with Canada, the last with the United States), he won the ...

and Bengt Walden all competed for other nations at the Winter Olympics before representing the US). Following the 2014 Winter Olympics, Lobello began coaching Fontana after his retirement from competition, helping her to a gold medal in the 500 meters at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

in Pyongchang,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lobello, Anthony Jr. 1984 births Living people American male short-track speed skaters Olympic short-track speed skaters for the United States Olympic short-track speed skaters for Italy Italian male short-track speed skaters Short-track speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Short-track speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Tallahassee, Florida University of Utah people American sports coaches Speed skating coaches Italian sports coaches Maclay School alumni World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Italian sportsmen