“Everything is beautiful here, I can’t wait to start.” At 1 pm the ceremony: Bebe Vio and Morlacchi flag bearer
The time zone has now been disposed of for a few days and on Tuesday 24 August, coinciding with the start of the Paralympics Giada Rossi celebrates her 27th birthday. The Zoppola star has a great desire for redemption after the physical ailments suffered this year. You take the field, or rather, on the table, to win.
Five years ago the splendid adventure of Rio with the victory of the bronze medal in the singles and the fourth place in the team competition. But here everything is different, because in the meantime the Italian champion has updated her curriculum that includes Italian and European titles and the victory of the team world championship.
At 27, the time is ripe for a Paralympic medal to be worn for a lifetime; to write an adventurous page to pass on to posterity. Nothing was left to chance: Giada Rossi is in great shape, with an increasingly trained body.
“More than my opponents, I have to take care of myself – she confided once I arrived in Tokyo – it’s great to be here and I want to confront my opponents immediately”. At dawn tomorrow, at 6.40 am, Rossi will face Argentina’s Maria Costanza Garrone.
On Thursday at about 4.40 am Giada will challenge Isabelle Lafaye, from France. The first two of each group move on to the next phase, that is to the main draw. In case of qualification Giada will face the quarter-finals and if she wins here she is already a medal in the competition reserved for classes 1-2, that is, the one she belongs to.
From this Paralympics whoever goes to the semifinals is certain of a medal. The final for the third position is abolished. The bronze medal is awarded to the losers of the semifinals. «The climate is one of great fibrillation – admits Giada’s father, Andrea Rossi – but first of all I want to wish my daughter a happy birthday.
It is an anomalous birthday, because for the first time we are thousands and thousands of kilometers away. But anyway we are proud of her and we can’t wait to stay in the small hours.
The XVI Summer Paralympic Games of Tokyo 2020 will therefore open at the Olympic Stadium. Italy, which presents itself with the largest group ever (115 athletes) and will be represented, during the opening ceremony, by the fencer Beatrice Vio and the swimmer Federico Morlacchi, one gold and one bronze, the first, at the Rio 2016 Games, one gold, three silvers and three bronzes, the second, from London 2012 to today.
Both will be standard bearers. Yesterday Bebe Vio, a Venetian who lives in Mogliano Veneto, was honored by the cover of the French sports newspaper, L’Equipe. “It is beautiful – she comments – I am very excited because it is something too much bigger than me”.
“What we will experience will be a unique emotion – added Morlacchi – because seeing that fire burning after a complicated year will be a liberation”. –