Home » Genuin, a piece of fund history. “At 81 I do 15 kilometers a day”

Genuin, a piece of fund history. “At 81 I do 15 kilometers a day”

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the interview

He has been in his eighties, a little less than a year and a half ago, but every day he travels about fifteen kilometers on “his” plain. Skis on your feet, of course. Yes, because he is Angelo Genuin, one of the many cross-country skiers who had as his cradle the Valle del Biois and, in particular, Falcade.

Born in 1939, Genuin was an athlete of the Fiamme Oro and of the national team. He did not win Olympic and world medals, but he was able to distinguish himself repeatedly at the national level and who, once his competitive career ended, became appreciated as a coach.

Angelo, before his story, tell us about this thing of 15 kilometers …

«I go out every morning or almost and on the plain I do about 15 kilometers. I’m a traditionalist: out of ten outings, I do nine in classical technique ».

Here, we can begin with its story.

«The first garette I made with the school, in Falcade Alto, thanks to the teacher Zandò. We borrowed skis and challenged each other. In the mid-fifties the first structured competitions. Not before, because I had to work. As soon as I finished school I started as a butcher’s boy and therefore I also worked in winter. My friends, however, were skiing and I, who wanted to ski myself, so I decided to change, starting to work as a bricklayer: during the cold period the companies did not work and so I could devote myself to skiing ».

And the results came early.

«I started with the zonal competitions, with the Val Biois ski club. The first important events were the Italian championships of 1957 in Folgaria: I was one of the youngest – at that time Aspirants and Juniors ran together – and I finished thirtieth. The following year, in Bardonecchia, I reached twenty-sixth. In 1959, in Bormio, I came eighth. In front of me, sixth and seventh respectively, the canalino Franco Manfroi and Eugenio Mayer from Zoldo. On that occasion we won, like Veneto, the Juniores relay. And on October 22 of that year, the day after I turned twenty, I was drafted into the Golden Flames. In 1960 I moved to Senior, with Rizzieri Rodeghiero from plateau as a coach ».

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And shortly after he joined the national team.

«I was Italian from 1962 to 1965. And in my career I have won thirty-three national qualification matches. Among these, I like to remember what was the classic opening of the season, the 15 kilometers of the Marcon Cup at Passo Rolle: I won it three times in a row. And twice I got on the podium, always in the 15 kilometers, at the Italian championships ».

He also had the satisfaction of participating in the Olympics.

“I started with number 3. There was little snow. At one point, with the wheel of a stick I hit a root, I fell I had to retire, around the twenty-fourth kilometer. The Olympics are the dream of every athlete but having lived them like this is a bit of regret, without a doubt ».

The Games, and the fund, were different from those of today.

“At those Games we had two pairs of skis. And we had to make them ourselves. And I also remember that, during the retreats in Volodalen, when it was snowing at night, in the morning we went out to hit the ski slope. Then we did training. Now everything is much more structured and, as far as training is concerned, now athletes actually never stop. We, on the other hand, started the preparation, which was artisanal compared to today, at the end of August ».

What kind of athlete was Angelo Genuin?

“I didn’t have the physique that Franco Manfroi or Giuseppe Steiner had, for example. But I made up for the lower displacement with a lot of training and with the care of the technique. I remember, for example, at the end of the draft visit, in Agordo, my conscripts went to celebrate in Pedavena while I, with an excuse, came up from Agordo on foot to train. And when I was in the barracks, I came from Moena to Falcade on foot, to be able to work on the house under construction without losing training. Then I tried to study the opponents. And also the race course ».

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Tell us a little about your colleagues at the time.

«Giulio De Florian had a light technique, which allowed him to hold even with little wax. Franco Nones was, from a competitive point of view, very bad: when he got a goal in his head, it was painful for everyone. Steiner also had a very competitive character. Manfroi was one who never gave up. And that however, once the race was over, he knew how to keep the company happy ».

Your greatest satisfaction as an athlete?

«It is linked to ski mountaineering and, specifically, to the victory in the 1975 Mezzalama Trophy. In the previous edition we had finished second, but that year we were the first to cross the finish line. I competed with Bruno Bonaldi (husband of cross-country skier and cyclist Maria Canins, who died in 2016 following a bicycle accident, ed) and Luigi Weiss. I was the oldest of the three: they detached me on the climb and I recovered on the descent ».

And the biggest disappointment?

“Not having stayed in the national team with more continuity.”

He was also a technical: federal teacher and coach.

“For five years I was the coach of the Juniores and Seniores B team. Then, at the time of the Pollazzon presidency, I also coached the Veneto committee”.

Who were the athletes who most impressed you as a coach?

“Roberto Primus and Giulio Capitanio”.

I’ll give you the names of two athletes from Valle del Biois, who were able to dress the blue at the World Championships and Olympics as well as stand out in the World Cup: Fulvio Scola and Magda… Genuin.

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«Fulvio has always been a serious, scrupulous boy. He did not have an exceptional physique but by applying himself he was able to grasp important results. Of Magda I say that if in the competition she had had the wickedness of my other daughter, Fabiana, perhaps she would have achieved more than what she did. However, she was very punctual in the work she had to do. Its most beautiful result? Fifth place in the sprint at the Vancouver Games ».

In addition to being a cross-country skier, you have also been a long-distance runner.

«I did 5 Marcialonga, all after finishing with the competitive spirit. And also three Vasaloppets: one year at the Vasa we covered 45 kilometers in the rain, in the second half of the track there were no more tracks and you struggled more downhill than uphill. In my curriculum there are also Finland-hiihto and Birkebeinerrennet ».

Which is the most beautiful?

«The Vasaloppet. If one does not run the Vasa cannot be considered a cross-country skier ».

What advice would you give to a young cross-country skier?

«I think it is important for a boy to play sports, but it has to be done with commitment. It does not matter whether one becomes a champion or not, the essential is seriousness, even in fun: And I also believe that if a boy comes into conflict with the coach who may have excluded him from a selection, he must not give up but, at the on the contrary, to work even harder to prove to the coach that he was wrong to leave him out ». –

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