Arianna Errigo between surfing, cooking, family and Tokyo: ‘Only the Olympic gold is missing on an individual level …’

World champion, European champion, Olympic team champion. In the (very rich) bulletin board of Arianna Errigo only one thing is missing: the five-circle gold medal on an individual level. He would like her more than anything else, especially after she missed her by a point in London and Rio, in her own words, made “a disaster”. She arrived as a favorite, she went out practically immediately.

Now she is preparing for Tokyo where she arrives as a young woman – she just turned 33 – deeply renewed: she is a wife now, but she is above all an athlete who had the strength, during the lockdown, to completely disconnect. Physique and mind. She dedicated herself to cooking, to the family, to herself. And when she returned to the gym she regained all the lost energy. We join her in Spain, while she is going to Asturias to train and we leave from Tokyo.

How does it get there? Not much is missing now.

“It was certainly a particular preparation, with very few races, if I’m not mistaken, one international and two nationally in the last year and a half. But I’m doing everything it takes to get there in the best way. I feel good, then of course, I have no feedback except in training and this moves ”.

“In the team competition we hope to confirm the gold in London, even if we are now a different team. I am the only survivor of that group, the oldest, now at the third Olympics. On an individual level, the Olympic gold is the only one I miss: in London I took the silver by one point, in Rio it went very badly, for Tokyo let’s see … ”.

What is your typical week of training?

“I train in Frascati in the morning and afternoon every day except the weekend when I try to do extra activities or other types of movement. I never stay still, but I don’t train like from Monday to Friday. Whenever I can I surf, beach volleyball, whatever “.

“A lot, I even like playing boules on the beach. Surfing is my great passion ”.

How does it work with nutrition?

“For two years I followed a nutritionist, mostly because I had a bit high values. Now that everything is back to normal, I regulate myself, I’m an expert ”.Favorite food?

“I thought about it for a long time, I imagined this question would come up but I really don’t know what to answer. But I can tell about my method “.

“I often make a list of things, let’s say extra diet, that I would like to eat and when I can then I delete them. Once pizza, once a dessert, once a sushi … I do this and I manage to take off some whim ”.

“Yes a lot, during the first lockdown he helped me a lot. I like to spend hours in the kitchen and improvise. Certainly the former are my favorite thing because you can give free rein to your imagination, while I am not crazy about the latter and desserts where, on the contrary, you have to be very precise “.

“Here too, I can’t answer. But I can say that a pasta, with a good and quality sauce, makes the difference. Well, a good sauce is something that should never be missing in my kitchen ”.

“A good red. In everyday life I never drink, but if there is a dinner out or with friends why not? “.

So much then disposes of in the gym.

“It’s true (laughs, ed) but I’m not a gym lover. I hardly like anything, I realize I’m not a simple athlete. My favorite thing is the technical part, the attacks, everything that reminds me of the races ”.

She is coached by Luca Simoncelli, a former fencer and, above all, her husband. How do you reconcile your private and professional life?

“Simple: we have our passions, we like to do a lot of things so when we go home we don’t talk about fencing all the time. After 8 years our routine has run in, we are able to divide the areas well as, as I said before, I know that I am not an easy athlete to manage “.

For love she also moved to Frascati, to the Castelli Romani.

“I feel great, Luca was born here, we have everything close at hand and even Rome is just a few minutes away. Also in this case we have our consolidated routine ”.