Sofia fills up with medals and dedicates them to her wounded Marche

Four golds and a bronze, a goal never reached by a blue

the case

Just eighteen years old and she has already worn four gold medals in addition to a bronze one, and has shown how her nickname “atomic ant” is inversely proportional to her size. Because Sofia Raffaeli, a petite build and a talent that does not seem to know boundaries, at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Sofia she won the most valuable medal even in the individual all-around. She did it by writing the history of Italy and winning the pass for the next Olympic Games scheduled in Paris in 2024, but above all by touching unexplored peaks: never before her, no blue athlete had gone so high.

A very sweet victory, to which to attach a thought as touching as it is rich in suffering. A thought that Raffaeli dedicated to her land, – she was born in January 2004 in Chiaravalle, in the province of Ancona -, those Marche deeply marked by the catastrophic flood that brought part of the region to its knees, and which unfortunately cost dearly in terms of human lives. «It is for my land, the Marche. For all the families who are suffering… », were the words of Sofia Raffaeli.

It was already clear in the morning that it would be a superlative Saturday when, during the qualifications, the athlete from the Fiamme Oro was placed in front of everyone. And thanks also to the last minute injuries of her two most fearsome opponents, the Israeli Daria Atamanov and the Bulgarian Boryana Kaleyn, in the afternoon she would then have packaged the memorable feat.

With 133,250 points she was able to put behind the German of Siberian origins Darja Varfolomeev (132,450) and the Bulgarian Stiliana Nikolova (128,800), while the other top Italian, Milena Baldassarri, finished in fifth position with 124,900. A triumph in the triumph for Sofia, who in the space of just four days has won (almost) everything she could win: first the gold for the ball, the ribbon and the hoop, in addition to the bronze for the clubs, and then the jubilation in the all-around.

A success born thanks to the last flawless exercise with the ball that earned him the beauty of 34,250 points, a fundamental score to oust Varfolomeev from the top step, up to that moment in front of all, and to boast the world title. Raffaeli – who had scored 33,800 points in the circle, 32,250 in the clubs and 32,950 in the ribbon – succeeds the Russian Dina Averina in the roll of honor, always winner in the last four editions but this time absent due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. But not only that, because the victory of Ancona puts an end to the hegemony of the East: from the first edition of Budapest 1963, Soviet, Bulgarian and Ukrainian athletes had always alternated on the podium. Of the Italians, at least until yesterday, not even the shadow. The poker of golds also earned her the compliments of the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council with responsibility for Sport and former Olympic champion in foil, Valentina Vezzali: «An incredible World Cup, you are in history». –

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