Manuela, ten years ago on March 21, your husband Pietro Mennea died, a monument of Italian sport, perhaps one of the greatest Apulian and southerners of the twentieth century. What is the clearest imprint she left on her? «The strength to go forward, to do anything with him in mind. Shortly before he died, tried by the disease, he begged me: now don’t screw everything up. I promised him it would never happen. Keeping his dreams alive, his values, was the motivation that allowed me to accept such a hard loss ».
And to those who didn’t know him personally, what did Pietro leave behind?
“Pure love. When they invite me to the schools to talk about him, the teachers’ eyes sparkle. And the boys, the same ones who have never seen him race, in some cases know more than me».
And yet, in life, Mennea did not always enjoy the reputation of a funny guy. «Let’s be honest, despite being as popular as people of the caliber of Rita Levi Montalcini, and I’m talking about a Nobel Prize winner, a genius we knew and unconditionally admired, Pietro did not collect the same unanimity of positive reviews. On the contrary, he had a character that often annoyed, that overshadowed the others ».
Like when he was elected to the European Parliament?
“By mistake, by the way. In the sense that he was a candidate (on the Democrats list, ed) without imagining that he could pass. Instead, his notoriety allowed him to collect an avalanche of votes in all sections of the South ».
Urban legend has it that it was not well digested even in Brussels.
«We moved there, we organized ourselves well. Pietro even wrote the commas of his reports, sending back the officials who performed the functions of speechwriter. And this made the lords of the lobbies turn up their noses, because their interests found no trace in those relationships».
When you first met.
“December 1990, at a mutual friends’ party. Pietro came with the uncle of a friend of mine. I didn’t even know who he was.’
Are you serious?
“I swear”.
And how did he conquer it?
«He had stopped competing and was already on his way to his other professional life, that of a lawyer and chartered accountant. He read, studied, had an immense culture, aimed at infinite goals. One day he told me that in life you need to have a hundred goals, so you reach at least four in the end. He struck me with his ambitious, determined, powerful nature. Certainly not because of his former status as a sportsman ».
And did he tell you about his exploits as a sprinter, the gold in Moscow, the world record over the 200m in Mexico City?
“Of course, but they’re not my clearest flashbacks. Maybe because I haven’t experienced them first hand. The other day the minister Andrea Abodi, who was his great friend and who invited me to Rome (today, ed) to an event in his memory, asked me what Pietro’s record was out of the 100. I told him: perhaps you mean the 19”72 on the 200? No, he answered me. On the 100, 10 ”01, and he smiled. I knew it”.
Rewinding the tape of the stories heard, who was the opponent of Mennea’s life?
“Valery Borzov, without a doubt. He always repeated to me that, only after having managed to beat him, he understood he could consecrate himself at great levels ».
And the athlete you most admired?
«Tommie Smith, the first to drop under 20” in the 200 meters, the man with the black fist raised on the podium in Mexico City in protest against racial discrimination. Pietro, a boy, trained in Termoli. Seeing that race, he made up his mind that he wanted to be like Smith. Destiny would have it that on that same track, eleven years later, he would set the world record in the 200m which lasted 17 years ».
What was Mennea’s greatest passion?
“Light. She ransacked the bookstores. He emptied the shelves with the Latin and Greek classics, bought all the non-fiction related to current events. We had so many that we bought an apartment in Rome not to live in but to store books which otherwise, due to their weight, would have made the floor of the house where we lived collapse».
When did he find time to read?
“As soon as a useful space was freed up for him. And then in the evening, until late at night, in bed. Once he woke me up at 3 am claiming he’d picked up some fantastic stuff in a book. I invited him to take a note and sent him to hell. But in reality, his desire to share everything was the glue of our existence».
Mennea’s death on March 21, 2013 took many by surprise. Only family and close friends knew of his illness.
«When we found out about the colon cancer, in May 2012, Pietro didn’t even want his sister to be informed. I told him, but in secret from him».
Was it a path that was immediately marked out, yours?
“The doctors told us that in fifteen days they would operate and everything would be back to normal. But the surgery wasn’t enough, the tumor had already pierced the peritoneum. We consulted specialists in New York, in Paris, but no one could find a way to save him. They complied bureaucratically with the protocols, almost frightened by being grappling with a famous person».
Is it an accusation?
“Please, just my experience. A 7-year-old daughter of a cousin of mine was given up for death. A doctor from the Bambin Gesù triangulated with two colleagues from Rizzoli in Bologna and San Matteo in Pavia and risked an experiment. A little more than a dozen years later, today, that little girl is studying Medicine».
Did you ever suspect that your husband’s early death was linked to drug abuse during his sports career? A bit like the shadows that are being raised today on the untimely death of some players?
“Absolutely no. Pietro was very attentive to certain aspects, he even sent back the recipes in which he was prescribed the most banal or ordinary medicines for sportsmen. In Moscow, after the victory over the 200, they offered him an orange soda. He poured it on his head instead of drinking it, because he feared that there might be some substance in it that could test positive for doping control ».
Yet another urban legend tells that Mennea had a contradictory relationship with his family, with Barletta, with Puglia.
«The bond was strong, complicated, of love and hate. Someone even reproached Peter for having given up his land. But if he hadn’t left, when and how would he have become one of the most famous Italian athletes in the world? However, he loved to go back to his mother and sit at the table with her. And when he set the world record in Mexico City, he stressed that his pride in him was coming to that finish line from a small southern town with no athletics track. They also reproached him for that statement».
Mennea with his sacrifices of a career has been an example to many ordinary people. Having stopped playing the role of athlete, did those people continue to love him? «This story happened in Umbria. A gentleman recognizes Pietro and insists on offering us a coffee. We thank them, but we tell them there’s no need. He bursts into tears. She embraces Pietro and then clings to his hand: “I worked in Belgium in the mines, you rekindled in me, in us who had emigrated there, the pride of being Italian”. Peter ended up being moved too».
What is the best personal memory you have of Pietro?
“We were engaged for seven years, never living together, before we got married. One day, already after a long piece of marriage, Pietro approaches my ear and whispers: you know Manuela, if I had known that it was so nice to be together, I would have asked you well in advance to marry you. Now I’m the one to say, however, that she left me too soon. But his dreams and his values are always with me. They give me the strength to carry on.”
March 21, 2023
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
