Charles's Story
1923 - 2014
Charlie Bazzano was part of the 1948 Olympic cycling team that travelled to London, competing in the 1000m sprint alongside of Sid Patterson and Russell Mockridge.
Bazzano was born in Morano, east of Turin in Northern Italy, and moved to Australia when he was three years old. He worked with his father and brother at his father’s engineering firm as a tradesman manufacturing cycling components including aluminium hubs, brakes, handlebars, stems, seat posts, pedals and chain sets. The hubs were world renown and were part of the famous Malvern Star bikes for many decades.
Bazzano claimed his first NSW cycling medal as a 19-year-old finishing third in 1942 in the ½ mile sprint, before finishing second in both the sprint and mile titles the following year. By 1944, at age 21 he was the king of NSW sprinting winning seven sprint crowns including the 1km time trial over the next five years and won selection to compete in the London Olympics.
At the 1948 London Games, Bazzano raced through to the semi-finals of the sprint event before being eliminated by the great Reg Harris, regarded by many as the greatest sprinter of his era.
Bazzano also competed at the 1950 Empire Games and finished fifth in the sprint title with teammates Mockridge and Patterson taking the gold and silver medals.
Bazzano passed away in 2014 aged 90.
