Tokyo 2020, Malagò: “Italy with great numbers, thanks to everyone”

Italy was among the leading nations at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and CONI President Giovanni Malagò expressed immense satisfaction.

A record edition with 40 medals – 10 gold, 10 silver and 20 bronze (12 fourth places) – in the Italian bag, never so rich. At world level theItaly of sport and' to seventh place for number of medals of a medal table won by the United States with 113 (39 golds, 41 silvers and 33 bronzes) ahead of the China with 88 (38 golds, 33 silvers and 18 bronzes).

A historic balance sheet made up of beautiful, epic and sometimes legendary moments. The character of the Italian expedition, already a record-breaking one in terms of the number of participating athletes (384 with almost equal gender parity), was undoubtedly Marcell Jacobs, gold in the 100 meters and in the 4×100 relay in athletics. From 'The Kihinkan – Takanawa Manor House', home of the prestigious, luxurious and appreciated Casa Italia in the heart of Tokyo, the president of the Cones, John Malago' held a long press conference reeling off data, concepts and dealing with 360-degree issues. The number one in Italian sport as well as a valued member of the International Olympic Committee, has always been very clear even in the number of podiums.

“40 medals is a lot, I was convinced that we would get to 39, I had told the people closest to me also because, I have always done it, I do everything with 13, I multiply everything by 13, I connect 13 in the choices of my life”, Malago' specified.

The Tokyo haul with 40 medals, the last one today's splendid one by the rhythmic gymnastics 'butterflies' (bronze), clearly surpasses the previous one record which dated back to Los Angeles '32 and Rome '60. Several ideas make the Italian sporting enterprise the greatest ever with many 'first times'.

The Coni will pay for Olympic medalists, 7 million and 50 thousand euros. It is the first time that Italy has won on every day of competition, which has never happened before. It is the first time that athletes from all the Regions and Autonomous Provinces of Italy and born in all five continents are present at the Olympics.

Vito Dell'Aquila He was the first athlete born in the 2000s to win a medal, even gold. In swimming, the men's 4x100 freestyle, silver, conquered the first Olympic podium in this race. Also in swimming, which equaled the number of podiums in the pool (6) of Sydney 2000, the 4x100 medley conquered the first medal at the Games, Frederick Burdisso he is the first medalist in the butterfly specialty and was also the youngest medalist of the Italian Team in Tokyo (he is not even 20 years old). The oldest, 42 years old, the fencer Aldo Montano.

Gregorio Paltrinieri He was the first medalist to win both in the pool (silver in the 800m freestyle) and in long distance swimming (bronze). Vanessa Ferrari At her fourth Olympics she won the first individual medal for women (the only previous team silver was in 1928). Maria Centrocchio She was the first athlete from Molise to win an Olympic medal (bronze in judo) as well as the first ever female podium finisher Giorgia Bordignon in weightlifting (silver), a sport that with three podiums equalled the tally of Paris 1924. Remaining with the pink quotas, first medal ever, and mostly gold, in women's rowing with Federica Cesarini – Valentina Rodini (Lightweight double sculls), first in archery with Lucilla Boari (silver), first in boxing with Irma Testa in the 57 kg (bronze). There is the first mixed gold medal, that is, of a crew made up of a woman and a man: it is that of the Nacra 17 in sailing with Caterina Banti and Ruggero Tita (this is the first gold medal ever at the Summer Games for an athlete born in Trentino). Double medal, gold for Luigi Busa' (Kumite 75 kg) and bronze for Viviana Bottaro (Kata), in karate, a discipline making its Olympic debut. A history book apart is the one reserved for athletics. Marcell Jacobs He was the first Italian ever to finish in the 100 metres and was also the winner. Gianmarco Tamberi, gold in the high jump, the first winner of the specialty among men. The average age of the Italian gold medalists was 26,33 years, one year and three months higher than in Rio 2016 but it should be considered that there was one more year.

There were 19 gold medalists, the highest number since Athens 2004 when there was women's water polo. The age of the medalists was 26,84, the lowest in Rio by half a point and two years younger than London 2012, three than Beijing 2008. The president of CONI also dwelt on the geopolitics of medals.

“At Tokyo 2020, out of 205 countries present, 93 nations won medals, 47% (at Rio 87, at London 85, at Beijing 86, ed.) – said the number one in Italian sport since February 2013 -. The number of nations winning at least one gold has also increased, 65 against 59 in Rio and 54 in Beijing. Lombardy is the region of Italy with the most medals, 16, followed by Veneto, two regions that are entering the Olympic climate of Milan-Cortina 2026. The cities with the most medals, Rome with 6 followed by Naples with 4”.

Then the applause at the headquarters of the Italian expedition. “Casa Italia was a beautiful thing, who knows what our Olympics would have been like without Casa Italia – Malago said' -. In these days I have received a flood of compliments from fellow IOC members, including international federations and the Organizing Committee of the next Olympics. We have given visibility to our companies that have placed their trust in us. I would like to say that the credibility of Italian sport, defined as fair, is at the highest levels”.

The number one of the Coni then recalled the bad luck that struck the rower Bruno Rosetti, tested positive for coronavirus an hour and a half before the final. “I thank Bruno Rosetti for a cruel fate in life, after 5 years of sacrifices, that morning at that time, an hour and a half before the final, he tested positive and could not get on the boat. Rosetti is still positive (since July 28), he is the emblem of the strangeness of this Olympics”.

Giovanni Malago' then quoted the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach calling it a “giant from all points of view” and then added, “this was a gamble resoundingly won by the IOC, with Tokyo 2020 and the Japanese authorities”. Malago' stated, “we have made a country happy, this was the best Olympics ever and it is not impossible to repeat the 40 medals of Tokyo but we must only deal with sport, stop wasting days, time and energy as we have done in recent years, I hope that the future of Coni is in the institutional life of the country, it deserves it for its history, for the present and for the future”.