Home » Giozet’s dream: to bring the blue rugby team in a wheelchair to the Paralympics

Giozet’s dream: to bring the blue rugby team in a wheelchair to the Paralympics

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Davide Giozet in action in a wheelchair rugby match

Former handbike athlete, he now has a new passion. “We are behind on the best, but it doesn’t take much to get back on top”

“The Olympic Games? Why not? Maybe we find two or three phenomena in wheelchair rugby and we can overturn the world balance and qualify for the Games. Or, I suddenly discover that a discipline suits me so much that it suits me so well that… ».

Davide Giozet, a past as a handbike athlete (in his curriculum three Giri d’Italia – from 2010 to 2012 – and a European championship), a present as captain of the blue wheelchair rugby team and as president of Sport Assi, did not has put away the five-circle dream altogether; a difficult dream, very difficult to realize but not impossible. A dream that he had cherished five years ago in view of Rio, but which then vanished as a matter of classification.

“Yes, with the handbike I was close to achieving the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic dream, I also went to pay a visit for the international classification but there was nothing to do”, says Davide, “with the merger of the categories, I found myself a category just above the previous one, a category in which I would have had to compete with athletes who were enormously more advantaged than me physically and therefore I would not have had the opportunity to qualify or compete. The same goes for athletics: I’m at the limit and for nothing I find myself competing with athletes against whom I would have few or no chances ».

A nice cancellation …

«Yes, also because there are no classifiers in Italy and therefore everything gets complicated. But I don’t lose heart: I like sport, it makes you feel good, I continue to practice it. There is rugby, now also tennis ».

In rugby, could there be opportunities to one day experience the five hoops?

«The situation is this: only eight teams participate in the Olympics, three European ones. The guiding nations are Japan, the United States, Canada and Australia. The gap that the two reference teams in Europe have, namely France and England, is wide, even if they have filed it in the last world championships. As Italy, we are still a long way from France and England and from other nations as well. There is a big gap to bridge to get to their levels. To do this, we need to increase the number of practitioners and the level of play. To make the leap in quality, in reality, it could not take much: wheelchair rugby is played in four and if we found a couple of strong guys, we could quickly recover positions, climb into the world elite and – why not? – aim for the Olympics. You can always dream ».

How is the Italian situation at the club level, also in light of the last two difficult seasons?

«The reference is the Veneto, Milan and Rome. Last year Catania left, soon I will go to Cagliari where we want to start a team. The hope of course is to be able to start the business in Sardinia and also in other places in Italy. My teammates and I strongly believe in this movement which gives quadriplegics the opportunity to play sports, who are cut off in many other disciplines ».

Beijing begins tomorrow …

“I will follow these Paralympics with interest. I have various friends in the disciplines that I practice but not only. As far as handybike is concerned, I am thinking of the eternal Francesca Porcellato, Luca Mazzone and Paolo Cecchetto. And then Rita Cucurru, a triathlon athlete who started from the handybike. Of course, I will monitor wheelchair rugby very carefully. ‘

Paralympic sport has made great strides in the last few years …

«When I had the accident, eighteen years ago, I didn’t know what sports for disabled people were, I knew that there were athletes like Oscar De Pellegrin or Germano Bernardi but nothing more. In the last ten years, let’s say since London 2012, a lot has changed, both in terms of visibility and in terms of structures. People like Bebe Vio and Alex Zanardi, but not only, have turned on the spotlight and now the TV talks and shows a lot. There is no doubt that the greater visibility means that many more young people take inspiration and passion ».

In recent days you have been in Val di Zoldo for an inspection of paths that could become traced for excursions for disabled people, even with a wheelchair.

«I gladly said yes to the invitation of my friends from Dolomiti Extreme Trail and Matches. I believe that for our beautiful Dolomites the identification of paths to do in a wheelchair is an added value. I believe in inclusive tourism ».ilario tancon

.

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