Visa, Worldwide Payment Technology Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for almost 40 years, presented the 117 athletes who will join the global Team Visa program for the Paris 2024 Games. The Italian team includes women’s volleyball star Paola Egonu, the champion athletics paralympian Davide Morana and the award-winning swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri. Team Visa 2024 is the largest group of Olympic and Paralympic athletes in the program’s history and the most diverse, representing more than 60 markets and 40 sports, including the new discipline of breaking.
Visa, a global leader in digital payments, has been a proud Worldwide Payment Technology Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for nearly 40 years, the first global sponsor of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and a sponsor of all Paralympic Games since 2002.
Since its creation in 2000, the Team Visa program has supported more than 600 athletes worldwide. The program provides athletes globally with the tools, resources and help needed to achieve their goals on and off the field, including financial support, financial literacy tools and mental health and wellness support. Athletes are selected based on athletic achievement, personal journey and social impact, in line with Visa brand values and principles, including diversity, equity, inclusion and commitment to improving life. their community.
Team Visa athletes from around the world met at the Team Visa Summit in Paris for a two-day brand immersion master class dedicated to creating content to support athletes as they tell their stories within the creator economy.
“Today, athletes have the power to tell their stories, bring together communities of fans and create business through their content,” said Frank Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer at Visa. “We brought together Team Visa athletes in Paris to help them further develop their skills as creators and find new and effective ways to communicate, engage and inspire people around the world.”
“We are honored to welcome Paola, Davide and Gregorio within the Visa Team which brings together athletes from different countries and sporting contexts and provides them with the support they need to give their best during their sporting career and after, in their professional one” , states Stefano Stoppani, Country Manager Visa Italia: “The commitment, resilience and spirit of continuous improvement that these athletes demonstrate in facing professional as well as personal challenges are a true source of inspiration for everyone and deeply reflect the values that we want to promote with our program.”
The Italian athletes of Team Visa
At the age of 24, Davide Morana was struck by bacterial meningitis which caused the amputation of all four limbs. After five months of rehabilitation he returned to competitive activity, dedicating himself to athletics thanks to carbon fiber legs. Davide is one of the supporters of art4sport, a non-profit association that encourages the physical and psychological recovery of children and young people with prosthetic limbs through sport. In recent years he has used social channels to tell his story, inspiring a new generation of athletes and beyond. Today Davide is training to fulfill his dream: qualifying for the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Paola Egonu began playing volleyball at the age of 11, taking her first steps in the team of her hometown, Galliera Veneta. In the 2013/2014 season you made your debut in Serie B1 with the federal team Club Italia, a club to which you remained linked for the following four years until your debut in Serie A1. Recognized as one of the best volleyball players in the world, Paola has won 2 Italian Championships, 5 Italian Cups, 4 Italian Super Cups, 1 Turkish Cup, 1 Club World Cup and 3 Champions Leagues. With the national team you won the gold at the 2021 European Championship and the 2022 Volley Nations League, the silver medal at the 2018 World Championships and the bronze medal at the 2019 European Championships. Paola was also the flag bearer in the ceremony opening of the Tokyo Games. Off the pitch she is committed to raising people’s awareness on the issues of gender identity, social inclusion and equality.
Gregorio Paltrinieri began swimming at the age of four and competing at the age of six. Until the age of twelve, he specialized in breaststroke, but as he grew up he switched to freestyle, specializing in long distances. As a professional swimmer, he is Olympic and world champion in long course and short course, three-time European long course champion in the 1500m freestyle in 2012 and 2014, European Champion in 2016 and twice European long course champion in the 800m freestyle . He held the short course world record in the 1500m freestyle and the European record in the 800m, the one that still stands is the European record in the 1500m freestyle with 14:32:80 achieved in Budapest 2022. Paltrinieri’s idols are the Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe and the American basketball icon Kobe Bryant, for their personality and mentality. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games he won the silver medal in the 800 meter freestyle and the bronze in the 10km open water despite having contracted mononucleosis just a few weeks earlier: another incredible achievement. After Tokyo, he continued to win medals – 14, with two more records – demonstrating that he is an example even outside of his sport, dedicating himself to sustainability and in particular to the protection of the sea.
The Team Visa program for Paris 2024 in numbers
The Paris 2024 Team Visa stands out for:
– 117 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from over 60 countries, including 8 new markets (Austria, Armenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Uzbekistan, Honduras)
– Ages 15 to 48 with the highest percentage of female athletes in program history
– 40 sports, including the new Paris 2024 sport: breaking
– 175 medals overall, with 15 athletes participating in their first Olympics or Paralympics
– Over 45 million total followers on social media among Team Visa athletes
Team Visa Summit: una Master Class di storytelling con i creator
Led by cultural influencers and top social creators, athletes learned to express themselves through their passions at the Team Visa Summit in Paris, while learning practical tips on social platforms to elevate their personal brand and storytelling skills . Influencers and cultural creators were available to athletes who participated in challenges and collaboration sessions that included learning a new sport, creating an exclusive piece of music, trying their hand at street art and creating content trend on social media around Paris.