The Tokyo 2020 Olympics have finally begun and Italy has already gone on to win the first medals. After the opening ceremony of last 23 July, the conquests of the podium for our country arrived: today the Azzurri silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay – composed of Alessandro Miressi, Thomas Ceccon, Lorenzo Zazzeri and Manuel Frigo – Nicolò Martinenghi bronze in the 100 frog, Daniele Garozzo and Diana Bacosi silver respectively in the foil and in the female skeet.
Italy has nine medals and is currently in ninth place with the United States, Japan and China in first, second and third place. “I have no words, I cannot describe this moment, we have written a beautiful page in the history of Italian sport. We hugged before leaving, we were convinced” Lorenzo Zazzeri commented on the victory on RaiSport”. For me it was already unthinkable to be here, now even a medal. When I see it, I’ll believe it “added Manuel Frigo.
Nicolò Martinenghi, after winning the bronze, said: “I have always dreamed of those final 15 meters in every training session. It is a cascade of emotions that I kept inside for a long time and that today fell on me”. Diana Bacosi, on the other hand, with a hint of bitterness for not being able to reach the gold by a whisker, dedicated the victory to the Italians: “[…] it is a medal that I want to dedicate to all Italians, because it was a very difficult year. The pandemic has brought us to our knees, but we, as a people, have been able to get up again, in life as in sport “.
Yesterday the fifth medal for Italy arrived and the third bronze of the day in Tokyo 2020 with the young 23-year-old Mirko Zanni who finished in third place the 67 kg weightlifting competition, lifting 322 kg overall: a new national record . Bronze also for Odette Giuffrida in 52 kilos judo and Elisa Longo Borghini in women’s cycling road test.
To win the first gold for Italy is Vito Dell’Aquila in the 58 kg taekwondo. The young man from Mesagne – in the province of Brindisi, Puglia – of only twenty years beat his Tunisian opponent Jendoubi for 16-12 with a comeback that materialized in the last seconds of the match. “I was certain of the gold before getting on the podium and I wanted to dedicate it to my grandfather, who died a month ago: I know he was looking at me from up there” said Dell’Aquila.
“This gold is the symbol of an Italy that starts again after being fall: we in taekwondo after London in Rio had had an empty pass, but we looked for talent, we cultivated it. And then Vito did the rest. Having given the first gold to Italy Team in these Games makes us feel even more Italian “, declared the president of Fita, Angelo Cito.
