ROMA (ITALPRESS) – “We must be ready and we will be ready. The ceremony of February 6 will be a wonderful show and will begin this adventure made not only of sporting events but also of humanity, sociality, peaceful confrontations, the demonstration that another way of living together is always possible”. Andrea Abodi can’t wait. It is not until the beginning of Milan-Cortina and to live an Olimpiade in Italy as Minister of Sport “is a sort of emotional consecration but also a reason for great responsibility, something that remembers all life. It’s fantastic, it’s like participating – he confesses to the microphones of “From toll to toll” on Rai Isoradio – In sports the only protagonists are sports and athletes, we must make the best possible decisions so that a great event can be lived, participated, accessible. And this is a reason for great responsibility. We hope that on March 15th, when the Winter Paralympics will be closed, everything went well. There are those who hope not but are part of the game, we hope to celebrate the most beautiful Olympics in history.”.
The government, for its part, tries to “be present without disturbing. Ours is a presence behind the scenes that cannot be seen in the audience but contributes to this organization that is very complex, it is the most widespread Olympiad in history with over 22 thousand square kilometers. It will also be a model for the future, especially for the Winter Games that need a distribution of organizational weights, also to avoid impacts from the environmental point of view. But the protagonists will be the athletes, who spent 4 years training: The Games have a unique charm and all aim at the medal. I had the opportunity to live the Olimpiade from within and when you are inside the organizational mechanism you realize the grandeur of the event, which in this case will allow Italy to be at the center of the world. The values of olympicism and paralymism make it clear that there is a reason why everyone points to an Olympic medal beyond what they have already won internationally. For Milan-Cortina there will be two billion viewers worldwide and two million viewers are expected in Italy. And I am pleased that the medals are Italian because they are made by the State Mint, another excellence of our country that has made available its ingenuity, its creativity to reward the best”.
In this regard, to the extent adopted at the end of 2024 in view of the Games to detax the medalists, Abodi emphasizes that “the merit is not taxed. There is this availability, in collaboration with Minister Giorgetti, who goes in the direction of recognition of merit, talent, the commitment of these athletes. It is paradoxical that you give them a prize and then you rate it. It is an incentive, a recognition that is added to sports prestige, a way to say thanks: These guys are an example, a point of reference, the message that starts through sports performance becomes educational, social, promotion of psycho-physical well-being. The educational power of sport goes beyond sports performance, it is important that through the great events and great athletes you promote sports as a factor of well-being, individual and social. Sports is like an immune defense that needs to be strengthened, we still have a great enemy that is sedentary and also fights through sports practice, education to movement.” But sport is also a messenger of peace. The signature of the Olympic Truce was “one of the many emotions of my experience as a minister” and the hope is that it will be respected.
“It has been signed by 165 countries out of 193 to the United Nations, it means that there is a desire for peace, of truce, to prevail the reasons for peace on the interests of wars – he recalled – Sport has only one interest, that of the supremacy of respect”. Abodi also spoke about the obligation of the helmet for skiers (“it is necessary to invest in life, education in life, respect, we realize it only when it becomes a black chronicle. We must be more effective, working both with norms and education”) and commitment to the paralympical front. “In Rome 1960 there were the first Paralympics, we are the cradle of paralympicism but there is still a lot to do, there is still a culture of handicap that we are trying to transform into a paralympic culture that goes beyond disability, putting everyone in the same conditions as sports. We are working with Parliament to find resources for so-called aids, i.e. prostheses, wheelchairs, not only for those who already do sports but also for those who are still at home in a condition of discomfort and must have a prospect of hope through sports practice, which allows to find the smile. Paralympics are the manifesto of the commitment we must carry out all together.”.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
