The multi-champion Poddighe criticizes the choice of the International Federation “It’s still not official but I’m not afraid, I could do well in cycling too”
SASSARI. Big changes are hard to digest. It is therefore understandable how the feared replacement of the riding test in the modern pentathlon with a cycling one leaves the experts perplexed. Starting right from Sassari Fabio Poddighe, four times Italian champion between 2013 and 2016 and team gold medal at the European Championships in Sofia 2016.
After an absence of three years due to health problems, Poddighe has decided to resume competitive activity, and in a few days he will be in Rome to resume his riding license, which expires after two years of inactivity. «It would really be a revolution – is his hot comment – because it would become a whole other sport. In particular, we would pass from a test full of pitfalls even for the best in the world to a much more predictable and calculable one. But from the news we received from the national federations, the novelty would be introduced no earlier than Los Angeles 2028, and as far as I’m concerned, being born in 1987, seven years is a long time. So I will continue to focus on the current five trials, swimming, fencing, horse riding and combined shooting and running until Paris 2024, which is my long-term goal, then I’ll think about it ».
The news was launched by the English newspaper Guardian, according to which the international federation has already voted in favor of the novelty, without giving official confirmation. The motivation is to be found in the desire to avoid bad images in the future like those seen at the Tokyo Olympics, in which the German Annika Schleu had to whip and spur her horse that did not want to enter the competition. By regulation, in fact, athletes do not compete with their own horses, but these are drawn by lot and given to them a few minutes before the race, and often the time is very short to find the right harmony.
The modern pentathlon was an invention of the father of the De Cubertain Games, and, born in 1909, has been part of the Olympic program since 1912 and has remained unchanged to this day. And in the future? «Let’s say it wouldn’t scare me – continues Poddighe – I’ve never done cycling, but I could do well there too».
“I understand that in our sport the riding test is the one that brings the greatest costs and organizational difficulties – explains Ilario Ierace, president of Sport Full Time, the company for which Fabio Poddighe competes – having organized a World Cup test in Sassari. i know well. But changing would mean betraying the philosophy of the modern pentathlon, which was born precisely to unite the modern Olympics with the ancient ones, and as an expression of the ideal soldier ».