CONI said in a statement that Sabia had been in
the intensive care unit of the San Carlo hospital on Potenza, in
the southern Italian region of Basilicata, for "a few days."
Sabia finished fifth in the 800 metres at Los Angeles in 1984
and seventh in Seoul four years later. He won the gold medal in
the same event at the European Indoor Championships in 1984.
According to CONI, he is the first Olympic finalist in the world
to die from the virus.
The Italian athletics federation (FIDAL), which described him as
"an extraordinarily talented athlete but, above all, a gentle
person", said that Sabia's father had also died from COVID-19 a
few days earlier.
"It's a tragedy within a tragedy," said FIDAL president Alfio
Giomi in a statement. "Donato was a person who you couldn't not
love."
(Writing by Brian Homewood)
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