Simone Bertazzo, now coach of the national bobsleigh
The coach from Cadore of the Azzurri speaks, who will collaborate with the German Machata “I played four Olympics, but now I’m more tense than when I was competing”
PIEVE DI CADORE
Towards Beijing 2022 but, above all, towards Cortina 2026. After a few weeks off, Simone Bertazzo is ready to get back to work with the bobsleigh blues.
The Italian Winter Sports Federation made official yesterday the teams and the technical staff led by Manuel Machata. The former pilot from Pieve di Cadore, four Olympic Games as an athlete, will be one of the former German champion’s collaborators, dividing himself between the European Cup and the World Cup.
«Easy with the ex», Bertazzo begins with a smile. «Also last year I did some descents and I must say that I still manage not badly».
Born in 1982, Simone ended the competition after the 2018 Olympics in the Korean Pyeongchang and, immediately after, he embarked on a career as a coach.
“I have to thank the Carabinieri, who allow me to continue working in the bobsled field,” says Bertazzo. «It’s a job, that of a technician, that I’m passionate about. It is exciting to try to discover the access keys to each athlete, to try to find the right strategy to bring out the best in each one. I’m more tense now than when I was competing, I waste nights trying to figure out how to teach the kids. Staying eight hours on the track doesn’t weigh on me. The greatest satisfaction? To see that the boys are able to do what you have transmitted to them ».
What a season was the 2020-2021 vintage.
«Despite all the limitations and difficulties related to the health emergency, it has been a decent season, both in terms of results and in terms of new entrants. Many new guys have arrived, coming from athletics, but not only. I am thinking, for example, of Eric Fantazzini (member of the Bob club Cortina, ed.) Who comes from the hammer throw. Or Robert Gino Mircea (also a member of the Bob club Cortina), who comes from weightlifting. And then we have a certainty at the wheel, Patrick Baumgartner, and another driver, equipped with important athletic means, like Mattia Variola ».
What is the main goal of next season?
«Bringing two female crews to the Games, the monobob and the two and four men. If all goes well, we could think of having two crews for two and two for four in the race. The potential is good. This year we managed to do the seventh push time, which is not a trivial matter. Once you have hit the right push, then anything can happen ».
And after Beijing?
«At the end of this four-year Olympic period, another, even more important, begins, the one that will bring Cortina 2026 to Milan. The hope is that this four-year period will be an opportunity to revitalize the bobsleigh, starting with the clubs. And that we get to have a track in Italy: with our own “gut”, it would be a whole other thing for the discipline ». –
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