# Athletics at the 1997 Mediterranean Games

At the 1997 Mediterranean Games, the athletics events were held at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, Italy from 15–19 June 1997. A total of forty-three events were contested, of which 23 by male and 20 by female athletes. A total of 24 Games records were broken or equalled during the competition.
The host country, Italy, topped the medal table with twelve gold medals and a total haul of 36 medals – by far the largest. France was the second most successful nation with ten golds and 23 medals, while Greece with seven golds and 19 overall. Morocco, Algeria, Spain and Slovenia also featured prominently on the podiums. Fourteen nations had medal winning athletes in the competition.
Greece won both the 100 metres titles through Angelos Pavlakakis and Ekaterini Thanou, both of whom ran meet record times. Christine Arron won the women's 200 metres and 4×100 metres relay for France. Morocco's Nezha Bidouane took the women's 400 metres hurdles title, an event in which she would later win at the 1997 World Championships.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Angelos Pavlakakis (GRE) | 10.13 GR | Anninos Marcoullides (CYP) | 10.23 | Stéphane Cali (FRA) | 10.28 |
| 200 metres | Giovanni Puggioni (ITA) | 20.44 GR | Georgios Panagiotopoulos (GRE) | 20.53 | Prodromos Katsantonis (CYP) | 20.55 |
| 400 metres | Jean-Louis Rapnouil (FRA) | 45.58 | Marco Vaccari (ITA) | 45.74 | Samir-Adel Louahla (ALG) | 46.07 |
| 800 metres | Giuseppe D'Urso (ITA) | 1:47.10 | Andrea Longo (ITA) | 1:47.54 | Djabir Saïd-Guerni (ALG) | 1:47.76 |
| 1500 metres | Driss Maazouzi (MAR) | 3:44.77 | Branko Zorko (CRO) | 3:45.17 | Reyes Estévez (ESP) | 3:45.40 |
| 5000 metres | Alberto García (ESP) | 13:25.29 GR | El Hassan Lahssini (MAR) | 13:28.95 | Saïd Berioui (MAR) | 13:53.98 |
| 10,000 metres | Ismaïl Sghyr (MAR) | 28:05.74 GR | Abderrahim Zitouna (MAR) | 28:19.85 | Kamel Kohil (ALG) | 28:24.19 |
| 110 metres hurdles | Vincent Clarico (FRA) | 13.61 | Mauro Re (ITA) | 13.71 | Emiliano Pizzoli (ITA) | 13.72 |
| 400 metres hurdles | Zid Abou Hamed (SYR) | 49.25 | Laurent Ottoz (ITA) | 49.27 | Miro Kocuvan (SLO) | 49.43 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase | Brahim Boulami (MAR) | 8:18.80 GR | Hicham Bouaouiche (MAR) | 8:20.30 | Giuseppe Maffei (ITA) | 8:23.43 |
| 4×100 metres relay | Italy (ITA) Nicola Asumi Giovanni Puggioni Angelo Cipolloni Sandro Floris | 38.61 GR | Spain (ESP) Frutos Feo Venancio José Jordi Mayoral Francisco Javier Navarro | 38.85 | Cyprus (CYP) Georgios Skender Anninos Marcoullides Prodromos Katsantonis Yiannis Zisimides | 39.12 |
| 4×400 metres relay | Algeria (ALG) Samir-Adel Louahla Kamel Talhaoui Ahmed Aichaoui Malik Louahla | 3:02.78 GR | France (FRA) Pierre-Marie Hilaire Rodrigue Nordin Jimmy Coco Fred Mango | 3:02.84 | Italy (ITA) Michele Grando Fabrizio Mori Walter Groff Ashraf Saber | 3:03.08 |
| Marathon | Azzedine Sakhri (ALG) | 2:20:40 | Giovanni Ruggiero (ITA) | 2:21:08 | Mustapha Damaoui (MAR) | 2:21:32 |
| 20 km walk | Giovanni De Benedictis (ITA) | 1:24:59 | Michele Didoni (ITA) | 1:25:21 | Hatem Ghoula (TUN) | 1:25:36 |
| High jump | Stevan Zorić (YUG) | 2.28 m GR= | Arturo Ortíz (ESP) Ignacio Pérez (ESP) | 2.26 m | Not awarded | |
| Pole vault | Alain Andji (FRA) | 5.70 m GR | Juan Gabriel Concepción (ESP) | 5.50 m | Andrea Giannini (ITA) | 5.50 m |
| Long jump | Gregor Cankar (SLO) | 8.00 m | Konstandinos Koukodimos (GRE) | 7.95 m | Dimitros Hatzopoulos (GRE) | 7.92 m |
| Triple jump | Paolo Camossi (ITA) | 16.63 m | Hristos Meletoglou (GRE) | 16.50 m | Germain Martial (FRA) | 16.18 m |
| Shot put | Alessandro Andrei (ITA) | 19.54 m | Corrado Fantini (ITA) | 19.19 m | Stevimir Ercegovac (CRO) | 19.00 m |
| Discus throw | Igor Primc (SLO) | 61.66 m | Diego Fortuna (ITA) | 59.90 m | Simone Sbrogiò (ITA) | 59.20 m |
| Hammer throw | Christophe Épalle (FRA) | 78.44 m GR | Raphaël Piolanti (FRA) | 77.20 m | Enrico Sgrulletti (ITA) | 76.32 m |
| Javelin throw | Konstadinos Gatsioudis (GRE) | 89.22 m GR | Dimitrios Polymerou (GRE) | 77.88 m | Maher Ridane (TUN) | 77.10 m |
| Decathlon | Pierre-Alexandre Vial (FRA) | 8070 pts GR | Beniamino Poserina (ITA) | 7991 pts | Prodromos Korkizoglou (GRE) | 7932 pts |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Ekaterini Thanou (GRE) | 11.13 GR | Frédérique Bangué (FRA) | 11.22 | Sylviane Félix (FRA) | 11.27 |
| 200 metres | Christine Arron (FRA) | 22.62 GR | Ekaterini Koffa (GRE) | 22.80 | Alenka Bikar (SLO) | 22.95 |
| 400 metres | Virna De Angeli (ITA) | 51.31 GR | Dora Kyriakou (CYP) | 52.02 | Patrizia Spuri (ITA) | 52.57 |
| 800 metres | Hasna Benhassi (MAR) | 2:03.70 | Jolanda Steblovnik (SLO) | 2:03.71 | Séverine Foulon (FRA) | 2:04.24 |
| 1500 metres | Nouria Mérah-Benida (ALG) | 4:11.27 | Samira Raïf (MAR) | 4:11.60 | Maite Zúñiga (ESP) | 4:11.63 |
| 5000 metres | Roberta Brunet (ITA) | 15:00.69 GR | Julia Vaquero (ESP) | 15:04.48 | Zahra Ouaziz (MAR) | 15:30.19 |
| 10,000 metres | Hrisostomia Iakovou (GRE) | 32:34.87 GR | Silvia Sommaggio (ITA) | 32:41.79 | Olivera Jevtić (YUG) | 32:43.42 |
| 100 metres hurdles | Patricia Girard (FRA) | 12.90 | Brigita Bukovec (SLO) | 13.01 | Carla Tuzzi (ITA) | 13.30 |
| 400 metres hurdles | Nezha Bidouane (MAR) | 55.01 GR | Miriam Alonso (ESP) | 55.89 | Carla Barbarino (ITA) | 56.76 |
| 4×100 metres relay | France (FRA) Frédérique Bangué Christine Arron Patricia Girard Sylviane Félix | 42.63 GR | Greece (GRE) Maria Tsoni Ekaterini Koffa Marina Vasarmidou Ekaterini Thanou | 43.07 | Italy (ITA) Stefania Ferrante Annarita Luciano Giada Gallina Manuela Levorato | 44.15 |
| 4×400 metres relay | Italy (ITA) Carla Barbarino Francesca Cola Patrizia Spuri Francesca Carbone | 3:29.98 GR | France (FRA) Marie-Louise Bévis Sophie Domenech Marie-Line Scholent Elsa Devassoigne | 3:30.62 | Spain (ESP) Miriam Alonso Esther Lahoz Miriam Bravo Yolanda Reyes | 3:31.93 |
| Marathon | Serap Aktaş (TUR) | 2:39:22 | Carol Galea (MLT) | 2:43:53 | Lale Öztürk (TUR) | 2:46:56 |
| 10 km walk | Elisabetta Perrone (ITA) | 44:40 GR | Annarita Sidoti (ITA) | 45:35 | Celia Marcén (ESP) | 46:07 |
| High jump | Antonella Bevilacqua (ITA) | 1.95 m | Niki Bakoyianni (GRE) | 1.93 m | Britta Bilač (SLO) | 1.91 m |
| Long jump | Niki Xanthou (GRE) | 6.72 m GR | Linda Ferga (FRA) | 6.49 m | Anastasia Mahob (FRA) | 6.47 m |
| Triple jump | Olga Vasdeki (GRE) | 14.13 m GR | Betty Lise (FRA) | 13.81 m | Antonella Capriotti (ITA) | 13.80 m |
| Shot put | Mara Rosolen (ITA) | 17.82 m | Eleni Tsentemeidou (GRE) | 17.70 m | Margarita Ramos (ESP) | 17.42 m |
| Discus throw | Anastasia Kelesidou (GRE) | 66.18 m GR | Styliani Tsikouna (GRE) | 61.96 m | Isabelle Devaluez (FRA) | 61.28 m |
| Javelin throw (Old javelin model) | Nadine Auzeil (FRA) | 57.32 m | Claudia Coslovich (ITA) | 57.16 m | Aggeliki Tsiolakoudi (GRE) | 56.70 m |
| Heptathlon | Nathalie Teppe (FRA) | 6161 pts | Gertrud Bacher (ITA) | 5859 pts | Marie Collonvillé (FRA) | 5839 pts |

## Medal table

* Host nation (Italy)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Italy* | 12 | 13 | 11 | 36 |
| 2 | France | 10 | 6 | 7 | 23 |
| 3 | Greece | 7 | 9 | 3 | 19 |
| 4 | Morocco | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| 5 | Algeria | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Slovenia | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Spain | 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| 8 | FR Yugoslavia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Turkey | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Syria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Cyprus | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 12 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 13 | Malta | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Tunisia | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Totals (14 entries) | Totals (14 entries) | 43 | 43 | 43 | 129 |

## Participation

* Albania
* Algeria
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Egypt
* France
* Greece
* Italy
* Libya
* Malta
* Monaco
* Morocco
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Syria
* Tunisia
* Turkey
* Federal Republic of Yugoslavia