The Italian athletics director: “Youth and talent, this national team is competitive” ROME (ITALPRESS) – “What struck me most is that such young boys were able to take on their responsibility without the magic umbrella of the great captain Gimbo (Tamberi, ed.) and have been able to demonstrate that they are in a super competitive world with their heads held high and with class, without being crushed by the weight of these responsibilities.” This is the final balance of the Indoor Athletics World Championships in Glasgow by Antonio La Torre, technical director of the Italian national athletics team, guest of ‘Radio Anch’io Sport’, on Rai Radio 1. “People rightly look at the medal table and the The points classification is something more for experts – explains the Italian director – But for the first time we finished third behind the United States and just one point behind Great Britain. It is a sign of how much our squad has expanded in terms of competitiveness. We must look to the future with our heads held high, but always with humility, we must not take anything for granted. We must continue to fight, with passion and courage, putting in the utmost competitive fury.”
“I always tell the kids – he continues – that no one will ever roll out the red carpets for us. I’m already looking forward to the next events: the World Cup racewalking, the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas to qualify for Paris and above all the European Championships in Rome, which for for many of these guys it will be a fundamental transition stage to then face Paris with even more peace of mind, having completed another very important competitive test.” The group is an added value: “I can confirm that there is an extraordinary team spirit. I assure you that yesterday (Sunday, ed.) they were all at the stadium cheering on their teammates. In such an individual sport, one could only think of the own destiny. Instead everyone was able to understand how this team strength can become an added value. I’m thinking for example of Leonardo Fabbri: his teammates have always been close to him and have been able to encourage him. We are a great team.” Furlani phenomenon: “What Mattia did is something extraordinary. At 18 and a half years old, after the 8.34 Italian indoor record, think how many would have been crushed. He put his competitive fury into it from the first jump. His silver medal shines with gold. Tentoglou gave him the best compliment, he told him ‘you are a beast’. He understood that we are almost at a generational transition. To make a comparison with tennis, it was a bit like Djokovic and Sinner. I hope that Mattia already leaves Rome and makes it clear that he is the future. When he cried at the end, they were tears of anger for not having won the gold. This is the personal maturation that I asked of our athletes, who with their talent and humanity they show us that things can change. With these guys like Furlani, Dosso and Simonelli we should be a little less obvious.” Iapichino and Ceccarelli on the other side of the coin: “Larissa is very saddened by this counter-performance. As for Samuele, a bad flu has ruined his training plans. Both must do a very sincere examination with themselves. But Larissa’s potential values and Samuele are not in question. No excuses, perhaps yesterday there was too much tension on Larissa’s part – concludes La Torre – but we will think together about what to improve”. – Photo Ipa Agency – (ITALPRESS). mc/red 04-Mar-24 09:04 .