CONI Leader Commends Italian Athletes

(ATR) Titled Italy With You the video begins with Italian Olympians declaring: "We are not the strongest, we are not the fearless, we are not the fighters."

The short, inspirational video quickly transitions to hospital scenes and the athletes proclaim that the doctors, nurses and staff in the ambulances and intensive care units are "our heroes" providing care and hope. Each Italian athlete says "Grazie" to those working tirelessly on the frontlines.

Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago praised his country’s athletes – including Alpine skier Federica Brignone, volleyball player Ivan Zaytsev and swimmer Federica Pellegrini who appeared in the video – for their powerful message and contribution to the fight against COVID-19.

"It is an unbelievable success here in our country and for many nations it is an example, a symbol and for other national Olympic committees, they are thinking to prepare something similar," said Malago, also an IOC member.

"What is happening here, all the athletes are becoming the protagonists for their local communities," Malago said, reeling off the names of numerous Italian athletes who are rising to the occasion to help others. "It is really wonderful how strong is the relationship between these athletes and their territories.

"It is the heritage of the birth of Italy."

Malago spoke to Around the Rings from the Giulio Onesti Olympic Training Center in Rome. He informed that the nearby CONI offices are closed for the first time in history.

"It’s the first time – it’s unbelievable because during the first and second World Wars, CONI was always open, of course you can imagine with a lot of difficulties and problems.

"We are unfortunately, living a very unique experience and we are hoping very, very soon to exit."

Malago said that the most troublesome times in Italy, where there have been nearly 140,000 reported positive coronavirus cases, second to Spain in Europe, appear to have passed.

"My personal opinion is that Italy, after China and Wuhan Province, was the first country to be so bitten from this unbelievable coronavirus, but it seems that maybe we are the first country to exit from this problem," he said noting the hardest hit areas of Lombardy, Bergamo, Brescia and Milan.

"Ninety percent of the country is not out, but under control."

Malago said that he speaks regularly with the Italian politicians of Veneto and Lombardy, Milan and Cortina, all of whom he cooperated closely with to win the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

"It’s quite unbelievable that it impacted these two wonderful regions, but actually the situation in Veneto is much better than in Lombardy," he said.

He also addressed the cancellation of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup finals, which were planned to be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo in March. The season finale at the 1956 Olympics winter resort was to serve as a test event for the 2021 world championships and also a prelude to the 2026 Winter Games.

"For many years, Cortina has a very huge, important knowledge, it is not a problem of the cancellation this year," Malago said. "The organization of the machine in Cortina is very good. It is just a very big pity because everything was ready and there were a lot of expectations."

Malago also touched upon the 2022 Ryder Cup, which is scheduled to be played in Italy, at a country club near Rome, for the first time in the event’s history. The Italian sports leader said he was informed by the general manager of the Ryder Cup in Italy, that while the 2020 Ryder Cup in Wisconsin is still on target for late September, to be prepared for changes, just in case.

"We were told that our Ryder Cup could be in 2023, and not 2022," Malago said, of the possibility of future postponements due to health concerns.

Pertaining to existing CONI national sponsorships and funding for athletes, Malago informed that he is not worried but rather proud of the continuing support in Italy.

"Of course, we’ve already had a lot of costs during these last months and we are calculating everything," Malago said. "For our revenues and economics, all the Italian sponsors and partners have already confirmed their presence for 2021."

The Italian NOC president says that considering these unprecedented times and uncharted waters that the Olympic movement must navigate due to COVID-19, he has adopted the slogan: "We sail on sight".

"It is not possible to have a plan on the activities, because time depends on the virus," Malago explained about his slogan.

"No one knows exactly when sports events will again be re-started, and mostly with spectators as this is a very important consideration to study, but we need to be ready, as soon as possible, when the conditions are right."

Italian Two-Time Olympian Sabia, 56

Two-time Olympic 800-meters finalist, Donato Sabia has died from coronavirus at age 56.

Sabia had been in the intensive care unit of the San Carlo hospital in Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, for "a few days".

The Italian middle distance runner finished fifth in the 800 meters in Los Angeles in 1984 and seventh in Seoul four years later. He won a gold medal in the 1984 European Indoor Championship.

According to CONI, Sabia is the first Olympic finalist in the world to die from the virus.

Homepage photo: CONI

Written and reported by Brian Pinelli

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