Egonu’s bitter tears “They tell me: you’re not Italian”

The star of the Italian volleyball team: “I’m tired, I’m leaving the national team”

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Paola Egonu’s World Cup ends in tears. The best volleyball player on the planet has bright eyes before putting the bronze medal around her neck. “They ask me why I’m Italian”: this is the whispered cry of a tired champion. Because you can be tired even at just 23, the age of this Italian girl that someone still targets. All contained in a video of a few seconds that goes around the network with the speed of light. For her, the solidarity of the whole world of sport, starting with Federvolley.

But the eyes never lie and Paola’s would like to look at a better horizon, without racism, without stupidity. “It was not easy to take the field, I sang the hymn and cried for the pain and for how much I am hurt”, the outburst best represents the state of mind of those who in a moment like this should only think about playing and having fun. “When they ask me why I’m Italian, I wonder why I represent such people. I put my heart and soul into it, I never lack respect, which is why it hurts even more ». Egonu is an easy target: a young, successful, elegant, never banal woman, attentive to everyone’s rights. Over the years haters, racists, homophobes have sown his path of attacks, insults, slaps. Which hurt, even if they are virtual. “It is unthinkable that in 2022 things like this could happen again, one who yells at you“ because you are Italian ”. It is not possible, it is intolerable ». She must hurt so much that that blue shirt, proudly worn on her shoulders in so many sports battles, is now weighing on her. Too much to think about taking it off, at least for a while. «I would like to stop, it takes a break. I hope it is understood and not interpreted as a lack of respect. I need a break for myself and then come back and give my best on the pitch, ”she tells La Stampa in the midst of what seems like the last day of school. The break the lines. There will be time to talk about it again, also because her manager, Marco Raguzzoni, tries to adjust the shot: «Paola respects the blue jersey, it’s an honor for her. But now you are very tried ». The last few days have been the worst for her, first for her mistakes in the match with Brazil and then for her detachment from her usual companions. Those of the Imoco and the national team. One for all Monica De Gennaro, the free man of Mazzanti’s team, with whom she has a special relationship. Yesterday De Gennaro was also crying.

It is a life that changes that of Paola Egonu, now Turkey awaits her where she will play from this year with the strongest team in the world, the VakıfBank of Istanbul, the Turkish bankers club that has made false papers to snatch Paola from her Conegliano. She goes to play in a country where the veil for women is a reality: «I don’t know what you expect, now you will see her. It’s a new experience and I can’t wait to start working with a great coach (the Italian Giovanni Guidetti, ed), I hope to learn a lot from him. I am really very enthusiastic ». A professional who suffers when she becomes the lightning rod of all the others and who now takes a step to the side: “The calendar has become too busy and that’s why I would like to take a summer break to be able to rest, take care of myself as a person . Even my body needs it, I’ve been playing for years without ever stopping ». Egonu personifies many things, from the desire to do well at all costs to integration which in ours, as in other Western countries, is a reality but up to a certain point. She is a young woman who has grown up and who she believes does not deserve the creeping racism that she still happens to encounter. A dream? “I don’t know, now I only dream of going home and spending some time with my people. And also to go back to dressing normally with the clothes that I like a lot ». She who loves fashion knows that on the catwalk she always goes with her head held high. Although with tears in her eyes .—

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