For the blue pioneers of the Canavese showcase in Germany half a century later

IVREA

The Canavese canoeists return to a historic place, where the Olympics of half a century ago were celebrated, the first with the Canoa slalom. The Canoe Kayak Slalom World Championships reserved for the Senior category were recently held in Augsburg, the ancient Roman city of Augusta in Germany.

The event was hosted in the prestigious sports facility built in 1972 on the occasion of the twentieth edition of the modern Olympics. In that case there was the first appearance of the Canoe slalom in the Olympic program, a choice made for the great interest of sports enthusiasts of the then Federal Republic of Germany. After Augusburg it will then have to wait another twenty years to see (in Barcelona, ​​Spain) the slalom canoe in the Olympic program. Discipline that has brought enormous satisfaction to the Italian athletes with the gold medal of Pierpaolo Ferrazzi in 1992 in Barcelona and Daniele Molmenti in 2012 in London.

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary, many “athletes” who took part in the 1972 games were invited by the organizing committee to attend the inauguration ceremony and collateral events organized in their honor.

Among the athletes who have joined this wonderful initiative, many Olympic medals. For the occasion, the three Ivrea canoeists who made up the entire Italian team were also present in Augusburg: Roberto and Giuseppe D’Angelo and Mario Di Stazio. “The greatest emotion felt – Giuseppe D’Angelo told us – was the catwalk on stage during the inauguration ceremony, when the entire audience of athletes from the fifty nations present at the world championships stood up for a long and warm applause to the pioneers of the Olympic Slalom. Nice and prestigious also the award ceremony of the “1972 team” which was given a commemorative medal of the fiftieth anniversary and, to some, the race bib number used during the games and found in some old box ». –