At the Quirinale the ceremony that officially kicks off the blue expedition: “You will be accompanied by the affection of the Italians”
The Italian expedition for the winter Olympics in Beijing 2022. The president of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has in fact handed the flag to the blue flag bearers Sofia Goggia e Giaconmo Bertagnolli, the latter for the Paralympic Games. The handover took place during a ceremony at the Quirinale in the presence of the president of Coni, Giovanni Malagò. “Italian citizens expect many medals from you, but above all a participation that honors our country. Honor the country and you will be followed with great affection by all Italians and by me among them. Best wishes,” said Mattarella.
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“It will be a fascinating adventure for you. It is an extraordinary opportunity. The sport of excellence represents the country in a relevant way and arouses in young people the desire to approach sports. This purpose is also entrusted to your hands, an example of the ability to testify the values of sport as you are doing and how you usually do. You have denied the cliché of an undisciplined people, of those who confuse with this the aptitude for imagination, creativity, inventiveness. Despite the difficulty of the pandemic emergency, you have found modalities different ways to train and keep you fit I want to underline the particular value of Paralympic sport, which has grown a lot in recent years thanks to the leading role of its protagonists. Paralympic sport is at the forefront of this growth, it is a measure of the civilization of a society. you really represent the country, “added Mattarella.
GOGGIA: “WORDS OF MATTARELLA IN THE HEART”
“President, I think deeply about the call I received when I got injured on the eve of the World Championships in Cortina. You urged me to look beyond, towards distant goals and obstacles. And I still carry those words in my heart”. It’s a Sofia Goggia visibly moved the one who commented, during the ceremony at the Quirinale, the delivery of the tricolor for the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. “Being standard-bearer – added Goggia – does not just mean waving the tricolor at the opening parade , but to be guarantors of ethical values to represent when wearing a sports suit, and above all in civilian clothes. It is a particular role, a great honor that makes me very proud, but it also takes a lot of responsibility “. On the Covid emergency: “I have enough phobia, despite having a complete vaccination cycle, you just need to be positive to skip the races. And therefore we live in a bubble that is not a bubble and we must always be careful”.
BERTAGNOLLI: “FLAG REPRESENTS THE PARALYMPIC WORLD”
“A great honor to be here, this flag does not represent just me but all my teammates and friends, it will be an exceptional Paralympics”. Thus the Paralympic skier Giacomo Bertagnolli during the handover ceremony of the flag for Beijing 2022 at the Quirinale. “The most important thing is that every athlete including me has a story that we want to tell and that escapes many”.
MALAGO ‘: “2021 UNREPEATABLE, BUT SPORT LOVES CHALLENGES”
“For seven years you were our president, our beacon. We thank you: this umpteenth meeting is a formidable underlining of your infinite, constant, human, competent attention towards Italian sport. In seven there has not been a time when in front of our request he has not shown to listen to us, to help us, to love us “, he said Giovanni Malagò thanking Mattarella, who has reached the end of his mandate. And again: “2021 was an extraordinary year for Italian sport, the numbers and all the parameters say it. For some unrepeatable, and perhaps they are right: but we men of sport like challenges, and this is the challenge of The team has prepared well, despite the Covid difficulties, which are particularly heavy for winter sports, but as in Tokyo, also on this occasion we will be able to win again in disciplines where the podium has been missing for some time “.
PANCALLI: “SUCCESSES CHANGE PERCEPTION OF OUR WORLD”
“The delivery of the flag to our standard-bearer Giacomo Bertagnolli gives us a unique moment because it is at the end of his seven-year period in which the Paralympic world has exploded, she has always been there in these seven years”. The president of the Italian Paralympic Committee says so, Luca Pancalli, addressing the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, during the award ceremony for the tricolor for Beijing 2022. “We also accept the commitment to continue this growth of the Paralympic movement – adds Pacalli -, results that give us a better country that is also changing the perception of our world. We can only thank you for what has been done for the country and sport “. “As recalled by Malagò – he continues – today it is six months since she handed us the flag before Tokyo and three months since we returned it and those successes have not yet subsided. Now we take up another challenge, that Paralympic of next March. We welcome it with ambition, what our country has shown in its ability to organize places us among the excellences of the Paralympic movement “.
VEZZALI: “AZZURRI, BE TESTIMONIAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE”
“To Sofia and Giacomo and to all of you who will be competing in Beijing, we ask to be not only positive examples, but real testimonials of sport and of our country, to increase the expectation of all of Italy in view of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic appointment “. Thus the undersecretary of sport Valentina Vezzali during the ceremony for the awarding of the tricolor flag for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. “The most important medal – he adds – to aspire to must be to make a boy or girl passionate who, after following you on TV, will want to emulate you and ask his parents to be accompanied to any sports facility. sport one more Italian, but you will also have invested in the future of our country and who knows, maybe, that boy or girl will be in the blue delegation in Milan-Cortina or simply in the stands cheering for you “.
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