ROME (ITALPRESS) – “Considering that in Tokyo we had five gold medalists and ten finalists and in Paris we had seventeen finalists all quite young, the turnover is assured. Partly out of affection and partly because I know them, I’m sure that all our Tokyo champions will go on and arrive in Los Angeles still with some cartridges to fire.” This was said by the president of the Italian Athletics Federation, Stefano Mei, during an interview at the Rome office of Italpress. “Behind we have the young people pushing that however already have an important history, I think of Mattia Furlani, of Nadia Battocletti who is the cover woman of this 2024 – continued the Fidal number one – We have Marghertita Castellani and Elisa Valensin, both run the 200 meters and are very good. There is Daniele Inzoli who is a long jumper, but there are many and then when they are young it is better not to talk about them too much. The virtuous circle, which started with Tokyo, continues to produce great champions and the kids are making ordinary what would have been extraordinary just four years ago.” The turning point came in 2021: “Since the governance changed, in January 2021, we looked for what the shortcomings were or why, despite an important budget, results were not being achieved,” Mei recounted. “We agreed that the trend was to take money away from high-level activity rather than put it in, and since it was the Olympic year, in the face of a budget that read four and a half million allocated to Olympic preparation, we put in fresh resources, or two million more. And from there the virtuous circle started. The following year we continued with this policy, it is clear that some sectors suffered, but we tried not to let anyone lack anything, and obviously more important revenues came in because results bring revenues.” An Italian system that now also sets an example for the rest of the world: “Certainly the Italian sports system is at the forefront. A lot is done by the military and police force sports groups because they allow athletes to carry out the activity quietly. Paradoxically, it is perhaps also the limit because traditional societies are not developed with the search for sponsors, but it is clear that it is a common situation for all amateur sports in Italy. And then it depends on the ability of federal management to make the best use of the resources that come from Sport and Health, from sponsors. We, I think, have shown in these four years that we absolutely know how to use the resources we have,” he concluded.- photo Italpress -(ITALPRESS)
