With less than a year to go until the Paris Olympics and just over two until the winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, athletes and paraathletes are already preparing for the big event with the five hoops. One of the stages of this journey is “Tricolor Objective”the great relay designed by Alex Zanardi as a symbol of restart after the lockdown in 2020, and which this year will ideally unite two Olympic cities like cortina d’Ampezzo e Paristhe first headquarters of the Olympic Games e Winter Paralympics In the 2026 and the second of the summer ones of 2024passing from Milanoalso an Olympic venue in 2026.
This fourth edition with an international scope, beyond the boundaries of disability, starts on Saturday 9 September from Cortina d’Ampezzo, the finish line of the 2022 edition. There will be 22 stages which, crossing into France, will end, after 1,600 kilometres, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower Sunday 1 October.
The protagonists of this fascinating journey will, as always, be the paralympic athletes Of Objective3il recruitment and introduction to sport project for people with disabilities born a few years ago precisely by Zanardi’s will, who riding handbikes, bicycles, Olympic wheelchairs, running and canoeing will pass the baton to demonstrate that physical and mental disabilities are not a limit, but a different life opportunity. The members of the relay will be all Paralympic athletes, specialists in disciplines such as paracycling, paralympic athletics and paratriathlon.
New this year is paracanoeing: in the stage of Mantua the crossing of the Mincio river by canoe is expected Veronica BigliaPiedmontese athlete who took part in the Tokyo Paralympics.
The stages
The athletes will start from cortina d’Ampezzo and they will cross Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont e From Val d’Ao and then cross the Alps on the Piccolo San Bernardo and enter France in the department of Alta Savoy.
At this point the route will cross the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, from the Burgundy-Franche-Comté e Ile-de-Francewith stages a Bourg Saint Maurice, Annecy, Bourge en Bresse, Chalon sur Saône, Semur en Auxois (road cycling preparation center for the 2024 Olympic Games)Auxerre, Sens, Brie Comte Robert and finally, Paris.
Objective Tricolore – explains a note -, in addition to being a symbol of hope and redemption for all those people who live and face disability with difficulty, it also acts as a tool for social inclusion e cultural promotion.
The Villages and events
The relay, in fact, will set up in many stages villages open to the public, in which athletes and associations will allow you to learn about and try the different Paralympic disciplines. It will happen to Cortina d’Ampezzo, Conegliano, Piacenza, Padua, Mantua, Reggio Emilia, Lecco e Verres (To the).
In addition to the villages, some stages will be organized events always at promotional nature, come a Caselle d’Altivole (Tv), Noventa Padovana e Pavia all’Irccs – Ics Maugeri. Here, welcomed by doctor Monica Panigazzi, head of the Occupational Therapy Unit, the athletes protagonists of the stage (Erika Scrivo and Alessandro Abbondanza, Daila Dameno, Edoardo Rinaldi and Veronica Biglia) will meet the hospitalized and outpatient patients who refer to the scientific clinical institute and with the occupational therapists of the occupational physiatry and ergonomics service they will discuss the importance of sport after a serious trauma or accident.
Another important stop is in Milan, in Torre Allianzin collaboration with Allianz Umana Mente FoundationObjective3 partner for Paralympic skiing.
On the occasion of the presentation of the event, at the Sala Caduti di Nassirya in the Senate in Rome, the paralympic athlete and now senator spoke Giusy Versace, the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodithe president of the Italian Paralympic Committee – Cip Luca Pancalli and the president of CONI Giovanni Malagòconnecting.
Versace he was keen to underline his support for the initiative since the first edition «first of all as an athlete, and then as vice-president of the Senate’s Culture, Education, Scientific Research, Entertainment and Sport Commission because I consider sport an important vehicle for social integration and I am happy to be at the start of the first stage in Cortina D’Ampezzo.”
Minister Abodi’s commitment to accessibility
“We all we make a commitment to ensure that Paralympic practices can find increasingly constant accessibility for all people and sport can be a factor of sociality, education and promotion of well-being” underlined the the servant of Abod. «We are on the eve of the modification of Article 33 of the Constitution and it seems to me that it is a commitment that we all assume and that we have undertaken, above all to ensure that Paralympic activity finds ever lower barriers».
the president of the CIP, Luca Pancalli he recalled that «Today we are here to honor a great project born from the intuition of Alex Zanardi and which over time has been able to grow and enrich itself, becoming something extraordinary and important. These guys” he added “will pass on a baton that represents the sharing a sports project, the promotion of Paralympic sport and the ability to break down physical, mental and in this case also territorial barriers».
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The connection from Milan, the CONI president underlined that: «Obiettivo Tricolore is a commercial of values for the whole of Italy and the fact that this year it will unite three Olympic cities such as Cortina d’Ampezzo, Milan and Paris amplifies it even more the message”.
The marketing and communications manager of Objective3 Barbara Mannhe illustrated the new pieces of the project which focused «on internationality, on sports promotion events and on multidisciplinarity, also including a canoe trip in Mantua. We are happy to have found a warm welcome in France too and the finish line at the Eiffel Tower seems to be closer.”
The first of the promotional videos created by the testimonials
Among the relay runners, the names of stand out Cristina Nutithe first Italian with multiple sclerosis to complete an Ironman, the 2023 European handbike champions Ana Vitelaru, Giulia Ruffato and Davide Cortini and the 2023 European paratriathlon champions, Pierluigi Maggio and Ivan Territo. Then again Tiziano Monti, Federico Mestroni.
Luca and Paolo in another Objective 3 video
Numerous testimonial who joined the initiative, because they were inspired by the value it contains. In addition to the godmother Giusy Versace, The comedians are testimonials of the event Paolo Kessisoglu e Luca Bizzarri protagonists of four funny comedy sketches, published on the Objective3 social channels, to launch the relay.
In the opening image, a frame from the official Objective3 video. The image of the presentation conference at the Senate is from the Press Office
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