The referee had awarded two decisive points to the Bergamo player. The final victory went to the French Juliette Baudinot, but standing ovation for the blue
Mariaclotilde Adosini (Twitter)
No, it’s not nice and it’s not right to win like this. It’s nice and right to get back on the platform and finish the match even with a defeat. Mariaclotilde Adosini has chosen the path of fairplay because “that’s right” and because in the end “the result doesn’t count”. Even if it’s about the Fencing Under 20 World Cup and even if Adosini had to go home leaving the victory to the French Juliette Baudinot. But the young girl from Bergamo comes out of the Palais de Beauvais in France to applause.
“The referee made a mistake, I’m back on the platform”
But what happened? Mariaclotilda Adosini had won the match 15-14, but thanks to the incorrect assignment of a point. “On the score of 13 to 11 for my opponent I scored, but due to an oversight the referee awarded me two, so that on the display the score appeared bright 13 to 13. The referee was very sorry for what happened, but we are men. We can all be wrong“, said the athlete. And faced with the obvious mistake of the race director, Adosini decided he didn’t want to win like this. “I’m back on the platform. By agreeing to shoot from the last minute of the matchon the correct score of 13 to 12 which did not take into account the referee’s error,” he added.
“Did I lose? Patience. I would do it again”
“For a moment so many thoughts crowded my head. But what mattered to me at that moment was choose what was the morally right action to do. Although it might seem easy to accept the already proclaimed victory, I felt that going back to the platform to re-dispute that last minute would have been more fair towards the opponent. I lost? Patience. I would do it again because the nature of this choice is due to the teachings received from my family, from my fencing studio and in particular from my master Francesco ‘Ciccio’ Calabrese”.
Abodi: “A special example”
Andrea Abodi, minister for sport and youth, exalted Adosini’s gesture. “Speaking of examples, here is a special one: Mariaclotilde Adosini, Well done ! Under 20 World Cup in Beauvais. You don’t need too many words… Loyalty, Fairness, Probity. Long live the sport that respects itself, long live fencing”