Michele Frangilli: Early Life, Career & Net Worth
Michele Frangilli is a professional Italian ace archer. Further, he is the most titled archer globally and is considered a living legend.
He has participated in four Olympics and won three of them.
He won team gold for Italy in the 2012 London Olympics by hitting the winning arrow.
Likewise, he has won eleven World Championship titles, making him the only archer to do so.
Not to mention the 170 International podiums he has captured over a 20-year career.
Currently, the archer is the world record holder for 25 and 18 meters 60 arrow round. The government of Italy recently Knighted him.
Furthermore, his father trained and coached him during his childhood.
The archer started making a name for himself by winning his first official competition at ten.
Quickly, he developed a shooting technique that won him multiple titles.
As a result, he published a book, “The Heretic Archer,” in 2005, mentioning his shooting style.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Michele Frangilli |
| Birth Date | May 1, 1976 |
| Birth Place | Gallarate, Lombardy, Italy |
| Nick Name | GILLO |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Ethnicity | Italian |
| Education | ITIS Gallarate |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Father’s Name | Vittorio Frangilli |
| Mother’s Name | Maria Paola Mignolli |
| Siblings | None |
| Age | 47 Years Old |
| Height | 5 feet 9 inch |
| Weight | 242 lbs (110kg) |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Brown |
| Build | Athletic |
| Sports | Archery |
| Active Years | 1996-present |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife | Sandrine Vandionant |
| Kids | None |
| Net Worth | $1 million – $5 million |
| Social Media | |
| Merch | The Heretic Archer, Archaeologists |
| Last Update | April 2024 |
Michele Frangilli: Early Life, Family, and Education
Michele Frangilli was born on May 1, 1976, in Gallarate, Lombardy, Italy.
His parents are Vittorio Frangilli and Maria Paola Mignolli.
Furthermore, he is a single child of his parents.
His father was also an elite archer of his generation. Not to mention, he was the reason for Frangill to play the archer sport. His father coached him throughout his career.
As a child, the archer was very enthusiastic and adored by his parents.
During nursery school, his parents gave him his first bow.
Soon he would grow to be a sharpshooter training under his father.
As a result, at just the age of ten, he played his first official competition.
It gained him recognition amongst the archery community in Italy.
Hence, four years later, he earned selection for the national junior team.
Furthermore, he was eligible to play in the World Junior Championships held in Roncegno, Italy. Consequently, he and his teammate won gold that year.
Moreover, he studied at the ITIS Gallarate High school during this period.
Due to playing multiple local, national, and world tournaments, he missed a lot of schooling.
Nevertheless, he successfully graduated from high school in 1997.
Thus, after graduating, he entirely focused on winning an Olympic gold medal for his country.
Michele Frangilli: Age, Height, and Weight
Michele Frangilli is 47 Years Old.
Further, as archery sports don’t require full-body fitness, he is slightly overweight.
Nevertheless, the Italian archer tries to include basic workouts in his daily schedule.
Furthermore, the archer is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 242 lbs, i.e., 110kg.
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Michele Frangilli: Archery Career
Junior Division
Born in an archer family, he received his first bow during nursery school.
Further, after years of training under his father, he played in official competition at ten.
Moving on four years later, he earned selection for the national junior team.
Not to mention, he did wonders for his team by being the lead archer.
Moreover, he started competing in the world junior tournament in 1992.
Nevertheless, the archer could not win any titles that year with the Italian junior team.
However, the team looked promising as they were highly skilled and were motivated.
Hence, they qualified for the 1993 World Junior Archery Championship finals.
Nonetheless, they lost the finals and secured a silver medal which was Gillo’s first medal in a world tournament.
Furthermore, the following year they again compete for winning gold.
As a result, he helped secure a championship in the 1994 World Junior Championship for his last match as a junior.
Likewise, his career’s first gold medal was in a world event.
Therefore, he earned a selection for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics after this victory.
Senior Division
Rookie Year
After winning his first junior championship, he made an appearance in the 1995 World Archery Championship as a senior.
Instantly, his impact was felt on the Italian team as their ranking improved alongside qualifying for the finals.
However, they lost to the South Korean squad in the finals.
Similarly, the Italian archer also competed in the men’s single competition.
Nonetheless, he was knocked out early in the round.
The Italian team couldn’t go further than the quarterfinals for the next two years.
However, the addition of two new archers with Michele proved to be a boom for them.
As a result, the Italian team beat the two-time reigning champion South Korea in the finals.
Hence, this marked his first world tournament championship in the senior division.
Moreover, this victory was short-lived as they lost to South Korea the following season.
Likewise, he again fails to capture a championship as an individual player.
Nevertheless, after five years, he finally reached the tournament’s semi-finals.
He faced David Barnes from Australia, where he beat him to advance to the finals.
Veteran Year
Furthermore, he faced I’m Dong-Hyun from South Korea in the tournament’s finals.
Both the elite arches went toe-to-toe with each other, where Frangilli was able to gain more points.
Therefore, he won his first individual championship at the 2003 World Archery Championships.
Similarly, the team also qualified for the semi-finals, where they lost to Sweden.
Not to mention, he was ranked world No.1 that year.
Again, the Italian team remained calm for the next three years as they got eliminated earlier.
Thus, in 2011, they, alongside Michele, qualified for the quarterfinals.
Regardless of their fantastic run, they failed to go further semi-finals winning the bronze medal.
In the same way, Michele again qualified for the Italian world team in 2015.
Correspondingly, they lost in the finals round, where they faced their arched rivals Southe Korea. After this loss, he hasn’t played in any World tournament.
Olympics
Bronze and Silver Medal
Frangilli made his debut in the Olympics at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Further, he recorded 684 points in the individual ranking round, a new Olympics record.
The young Italian archer reached the quarterfinals, facing Justin Huish from the USA. Sadly, he lost the match and had to contend with sixth place.
Moreover, he teamed up with Matteo Bisani and Andrea Parenti to secure a bronze medal in the team competition.
Gillio again qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics in individual and team competitions.
Much like the last Olympics, he went out in the round of 16 and eventually placed ninth.
Likewise, he teamed up with Matteo Bisani and Ilario Di Buò to reach the finals.
Despite having a fantastic run, they lost to the Republic of Korea to claim the silver medal.
After winning his first individual world championship in New York in 2003, he qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Furthermore, he could not keep up this posture at the Olympics.
As a result, he finished 31st in the individual competition and did no better than seventh in the team event.
Hence, he didn’t qualify for the 2008 Olympics due to this poor performance.
Gold Medal
He returned for the 2012 London Olympics for both individual and team competitions.
Similarly, he again got eliminated in the first round with a disappointing loss.
Nevertheless, he performed exceptionally in the team event with Marco Galliazzo and Mauro Nespoli.
Likewise, the trio qualified for the finals and faced the USA.
The match got very intense as both sides put up their best performance.
The game went down to the last arrow, where Frangilli stokes a 10 to give the Italian team gold.
All in all, this was an unforgettable moment for Italy and their players, especially for Frangilli.
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Michele Frangilli: Achievements And Honors
- 2012 London Olympics team gold medal
- One-time individual World Archery Champion in the year 2003
- Current world record holder 25 meters 60 arrows
- One-time team World Archery Champion in the year 1999
- 2000 Sydney Olympics team silver medal
- One-time team World Junior Archery Champion in the year 1994
- Two-time team Wolrd Indoor Target Archery Champion in 2001 and 2007
- One-time team European Champion in the year 1998
- Current world record holder 18 meters 60 arrows
- 1996 Atlanta Olympics team bronze medal
- One-time individual European Champion in the year 2002
- Current world record holder 36 arrow final round
- One-time team World Field Archery Champion in the year 2008
- Former World No.1 Archer in the year 2003
- Three-time individual World Field Archery Champion in the year 2001, 2002, and 2006
- One-time individual World Archery Champion in the year 2003
- Knighted by the government of Italy
Michele Frangilli: Marriage and Kids
Michele Frangilli is married to Sandrine Vandionant. Further, Sandrine is a former archer from France.
She left sports in 2016 when she was a part of the French archery team.
Currently, she is a development manager at an archery school called Fédération Française de Tir à l’arc. Likewise, this school is located in France.
Moreover, the couple met each other in a training camp.
Ever since the training camp, they have kept in touch.
As a result, they started dating but were very private about their relationship.
However, after years of dating, they finally tied knots on December 15, 2007.
Furthermore, the wedding was a small private wedding done in Italy.
Only a few of Michele’s and Sandrine’s friends and family attended the wedding.
Aside from that, information about the couple’s children is not currently available.
Nevertheless, after over 14 years of marriage, it is speculated that they have kids.
Michele Frangilli: Net Worth and Salary
The gold medalist has built a pleasant wealth over 20-year of archery career.
his net worth is estimated to be between $1 million to $5 million.
Furthermore, he earns good income from endorsement and prize money.
Likewise, he is also the founder of an archery institute named Gillo Archers, generating income.
Moreover, he owns an archery equipment product line alongside his book, The Heretic Archer, which is still a top-selling book among books related to archery.
Therefore, he lives in a lavish house brought in April of 2007.
Not to mention, he owns multiple cars.
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Michele Frangilli: Social Media Presence
The second-generation archer is pretty active on social media platforms. Hence, he has a Facebook account with over 2.3K followers.
He rarely posts on his Facebook handle. Nevertheless, he mostly shares his life as a professional archer on his account.
Moreover, he shares pictures of archery equipment from his store, the Gillo gold medal.
Similarly, he has several photos of practicing. Significantly, he has pictures of all the three Olympics medals he won.
He prefers to keep his personal life out of the limelight.
Furthermore, he loves living his life at the moment rather than capturing and posting about it.
Michele Frangilli: FAQs
Has Michele Frangilli retired?
No, the Italian archer has not retired till now.
However, currently, he has also not taken part in any competitions.
Why is Frangilli considered the legendary archer?
Over two decades, he is the only archer to have come close to winning every major title available in all junior world, old world, European, and Olympics events.
Who were Michele Frangili’s teammates?
Some of Frangili’s teammates during his incredible career were:
- Marco Galiazzo
- Mauro Nespoli
- Ilario Di Buo
- Matteo Bisiani
- Andrea Parenti
