Mattarella to the Olympic and Paralympic athletes: “You have thrilled the Italians”

The witness of the winning relay. The gift, the moment, the thrill even if it’s hot in the Quirinale gardens. Lorenzo Patta, Marcell Jacobs, Fausto Desalu and Filippo Tortu deliver the object of their golden sprint to the head of state. It is the most exciting moment, but another one with the same impact immediately follows: with Ambra Sabatini, Martina Caironi and Monica Contrafatto, gold, silver and bronze of the 100 Paralympic athletes who give Mattarella the book of the most beautiful images in Tokyo. Before the President of the Republic begins to speak: “Welcome back to the Quirinale. And thank you for honoring the flag: 109 medals, never so many. You have thrilled the Italians and women are paving the way for success.”

The head of state recalls the context of the fabulous summer: “There are moments when sport takes on a wider meaning, this is one of those, the country felt well interpreted, involved by the athletes. It was a great summer for the sport, a summer that has many protagonists, not only the athletes but also their staff. I followed the Games constantly and saw a lot. I remembered the relay runners Jacobs Patta, Jacobsu, Desalu, Tortu: very good “. But Mattarella mentioned several athletes: the swimming relay, Vanessa Ferrari’s silver in gymnastics, the 7 medals of the Paralympic swimmer Stefano Raimondi, the five of Carlotta Gilli, the compliments to Ganna also for the World Cup.

“And the wonderful butterfly team, I would like to mention each of you.” Then Mattarella mentions Tamberi and praises the choice to “share” the gold with Barshim: “No fury, you have made a real sporting gesture.” Then the girls of the Paralympic women’s foil, the gold and silver of Bebe Vio ” . But Mattarella recalls that “there have been many other performances of great sporting importance not followed by medals but equally important. Not just as fourth places. I remember one, that of Federica Pellegrini ”, to whom Mattarella congratulates on his appointment as a member of the IOC.

Brothers and sisters of Italy

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Excited voice, proud look, Giovanni Malagò was the first to intervene in the Quirinale gardens in the ceremony to return the flag to the President of the Republic: “We had never won 40 medals, we had never had all the regions represented in our team. athletes born on five continents, demonstrating a multi-ethnic and perfectly integrated team. We try to never end this summer “. But the president of Coni reminded us that we must not forget where we started from, the painful preparation, the closures, the postponement year. And also from competing in closed facilities.

“But something special happened here, the athletes from another discipline became the public and cheered for the team. We didn’t put the tricolor flag in our backpack, those athletes took the flag and started waving it.” was contagious, “given what has happened today in so many terraces and balconies – the reference is to welcoming the Azzurri on the buses discovered in the center of Rome – the most beautiful medal these guys have. Never before have they been brothers and sisters of Italy “.

Move, don’t move

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The Paralympic president Luca Pancalli starts from the flag: “Today we give it back to him full of 69 medals, but no less full of dreams and hopes because sport thinks about the future. We had estimated the 69 medals, but the response that took place was historic. from the country, witnessed by the thousands of e-mails we are receiving. Many people asking how they can start playing sports. We have broken into the hearts of millions of Italians, but not moving, we do not want to move, we want to move. We seek understanding of this. which is the Paralympic movement. We are positively infecting a country, a country is changing “.

Emotional locomotive

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Valentina Vezzali defines the expedition as historical. “Behind each of these medals there is a life story, an athlete, a technical and medical staff, there are military and civil sports groups, there are the individual federations, the Coni and the Cip with their commitment in Olympic preparation and Paralympic, there is also the government with its investments. But there are also the managers of the companies who welcomed them and then raised them, often in plants that were not up to standard. There are friends who supported them and school teachers who supported them, and their families, behind these medals is the whole of Italian sport, struck but not knocked down by the pandemic, which has increasingly become the locomotive of the emotional state of our country “. Now Italians and Azzurri are moving to Palazzo Chigi for the meeting with Prime Minister Mario Draghi.