It’s not over with Jacobs and the four blue musketeers of the relay. In Tokyo we can still win the 100 meters and it would not even be a surprise, because Italy facing the Paralympics (ceremony on August 24, at 1 pm from us) brings three sprinters who have three of the four best times in the world in 2021 on the 100 meters, category T63, that of athletes amputated above the knee. Ambra Sabatini, world record holder with 14 ”59, Martina Caironi (15” 01) and Monica Contrafatto (15 ”22) are ready to exalt us as they did two weeks ago: same track, same colors, amazing speed.
Theirs is an exemplary story of what sport is today. Martina wins gold in London 2012 on the 100 and, from her hospital bed, Monica, Bersagliera hit by a bomb in Afghanistan (yes, precisely in that mission that wanted to protect and make the country grow again today in the hands of the Taliban) , sees her and promises to become his opponent: in Rio 2016, Monica wins bronze in the 100, with Martina on the top step of the podium. Ambra is very young, she is 19 and in June 2019 she loses her leg in an accident. From the hospital, post a video while doing push-ups: she was a middle distance runner, she couldn’t stop and is inspired by Martina to get back to life. On September 4th, these three girls will meet in Tokyo: “The wait has been very long, it seems to me that it has been a hundred years since Rio – says Caironi – and the all-blue competition on the 100 makes me even more concentrated, especially because I know that Monica and Ambra are here because they were inspired by me, as I was inspired by Pistorius after my accident ». And the witness of the testimony reaches Ambra Sabatini: “Monica’s videos were my strength as well as Zanardi’s messages: now I feel only energy and happiness”, and tortures the Rubik’s cube in my hands, anti-stress and good luck charm.
Loading…
Pancalli: the conditions are in place to improve Rio’s performance
Luca Pancalli, president of the CIP, the Italian Paralympic Committee, does not accept excuses: “Despite the difficulties linked to Covid and the absence of fans, our 115 athletes, including 63 women, have prepared well and the conditions are in place for improve Rio (39 medals, ed) », In particular thanks to those reserves of laurels that are swimming, athletics and cycling (even if Zanardi’s totemic absence goes beyond everything). “Above all – continues Pancalli – I hope that Tokyo will help spread the message that bringing disabled people closer to sport is an enforceable right, it is an instrument of inclusion and integration, which must be matched by effective active policies to help the promotion of sport in all groups. of the population, beyond the fact that we can get to the Paralympics. And we remember the speech by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in which the president called for the disabled to be transformed from assisted persons into taxpayers because this will do us and them good ”. The CIP puts experience and economic resources: 65% of the 27 million of the CIP budget is allocated to sports activities and 6.2 million have been allocated for the Tokyo expedition, also including the medal prizes (75 thousand euros to those who win the ‘gold, 40,000 for silver and 25,000 for bronze) and monthly upward checks for elite athletes from 2021 to Paris 2024.
167 countries present, over 4,400 athletes
The international Paralympic movement has already made a Copernican revolution on a cultural level since the first edition of Rome 1960. And Tokyo, even among the narrow stakes of Covid, could be the edition that brings Paralympic sport to the moon: 167 countries present (including the refugee team and five debut: Bhutan, Grenada, Maldives, Paraguay, St Vincent and the Grenadines) with over 4,400 athletes, two debut sports (taekwondo and badminton), more than 540 hours of coverage by the NHK broadcaster, a ‘audience of 4.25 billion people in 160 countries (the first international broadcasts are dated Barcelona 92).
Rai programming
Rai also on the pitch with its best programming, coordinated by Riccardo Pescante: about thirty journalists and commentators will cover 13 hours of live broadcast a day from 2 am (on Rai 2 and Rai Sport) and an in-depth feature at 5:20 pm (on Rai 2). The real medal to aim for, however, will be to get excited by the technical gestures of these guys before their stories of darkness and rebirth. More cheering, less rhetoric: this will make athletes happy. On the other hand, in Japan, happiness is in the Constitution (article 13). Why not start with sport? And leave the word “disabled” in the vocabularies.