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Docuserie 'Sognando Parigi 2024': 7 Italian athletes on their way to the Olympics

Discover the stories of Ceccon, Fantin, Ghiretti, Mouhiidine, Raffaeli, Villa and Volpi, protagonists of the docuseries Allianz aired on Rai 2 and RaiPlay

30 May 2024

6' min read

Milan, 30 May 2024 - The airing of the docuseries devised by Allianz, produced in partnership with Yam 112003 and in collaboration with RAI "Dreaming of Paris 2024: 7 athletes, one goal" is now close. The protagonists are seven extraordinary athletes and parathletes, Allianz Ambassadors for the next Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024, flagships of blue sports and of the Fiamme Oro State Police Sports Group, of which Allianz has been a Top Partner since 2022. All episodes will be aired every Sunday on Rai 2 and streamed on RaiPlay starting on Sunday 2 June and running until 14 July, and then repeated every Monday on Rai Sport.

The seven protagonists, chosen in November 2023 to create a virtual Allianz team that will compete in Paris 2024, are: Thomas Ceccon, Antonio Fantin, Giulia Ghiretti, Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine, Sofia Raffaeli, Giorgia Villa and Alice Volpi. The partnership with the Company's seven Ambassador athletes, which supports them in their sporting and personal preparation towards the highest sporting achievement, has been articulated in various initiatives: from the production of a television and web communication campaign, seen both in Italy and globally, to other initiatives such as meetings with Allianz employees in November last year and further communication activities towards Allianz employees and distribution networks. The collaboration also gave rise to the new television and web production of the docuseries, conceived by Allianz and produced in partnership with Yam 112003 and in collaboration with Rai, a series that was presented to Allianz employees as a preview on Wednesday 29 May in Torre Allianz, in the presence of director Katia Bernardi and author Chiara Parodi.

Giacomo Campora, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz S.p.A. commented:"The television docuseries "Sognando Parigi 2024: 7 atleti, un solo traguardo" will allow all viewers and sports fans to discover and experience the personal and sporting stories of seven great Italian athletes of the Fiamme Oro, and to understand how Olympic and Paralympic values are not rhetoric, but how they can also take shape in everyday actions. Values that are so important to Allianz that we want to spread them through these athletes who are preparing for Paris 2024 and the TV series that narrates them".

The project intercepts RAI's cross-media potential in the Olympic bid, and includes seven episodes of 22' each, directed by Katia Bernardi and written by Chiara Parodi. In the seven episodes, the athletes' stories are interwoven, each of which tells in documentary style the lives of the protagonists, the key people who revolve around their sporting and non-sporting lives in the months leading up to their departure for Paris. Olympic and Paralympic values are universal values. Therefore, the series revolves around seven main values related to the athletes' stories: talent, responsibility, dynamism, commitment, inclusion, caring/sharing, ambition. In each episode, one of the seven athletes is followed in a little more detail than the others.

The episodes on Rai 2, from 2 June to 14 July, will be broadcast at the end of the Sunday Sports News (around 6.25pm), except for the first episode on 2 June which will be broadcast at 3.40pm and the second on 9 June which will be broadcast at 4.30pm. On Rai Sport there will be a repeat on the following Monday and on RaiPlay they will be streamed from Sunday's first on-air.

To conclude there will also be a 60' film that will collect the most beautiful and significant portraits of the young athletes and will be aired on Rai 2, on 21 July, at the end of the Sunday Sports News and repeated the following day on Rai Sport on 22 July.

The first protagonist to open the docuseries is Thomas Ceccon on 2 June on Rai 2 at 3.40 p.m. and his episode is entitled "Il Talento"; this is followed by "La Resistenza" with Giorgia Villa, "La Condivisione" with Antonio Fantin, "L'impegno" with Alice Volpi, "L'inclusione" with Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine, "La Responsabilità" with Giulia Ghiretti and finally "Il Futuro" with Sofia Raffaeli.

Narrator of all the stories in the project, realised with Rai Pubblicità, is Gianfelice Facchetti, author and actor of great narrative sensitivity.

Look here the link to the docuseries trailer

The docuseries is accompanied by a social campaign created by Allianz. To anticipate the official launch of the docuseries, 28 1-minute clips have been published on social media, on the Allianz website and on RaiPlay.
The docuseries was anticipated in April and May, and will be flanked in June by the Allianz commercial "Ready for Paris 2024", starring Thomas Ceccon, Antonio Fantin and Sofia Raffaeli. The storytelling of the campaign, on-air on the main national and satellite television channels, unfolds with emotional tones around the technical-sporting and personal preparation of Thomas, Antonio and Sofia in their journey towards the ultimate sporting goal: the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024.
The Allianz Group launched its global partnership with the International Olympic and Paralympic Movements in 2021 with an eight-year agreement until 2028, strengthening the partnership already in place since 2006 with the International Paralympic Movement. Within this international framework, in Italy Allianz has developed important partnerships with CONI and the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP), alongside the Italy Team. Since 2020, it has been hosting the Milan-Cortina 2026 Foundation, Organising Committee of the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, at its headquarters, the Allianz Tower in Milan.
Since 2022, as already mentioned, it has been the Top Partner of the Gruppo Sportivo della Polizia di Stato Fiamme Oro (Golden Flames State Police Sports Group), with which in 2023 the project 'Sognando Parigi 2024: 7 athletes, un solo traguardo' (Dreaming of Paris 2024: 7 athletes, one goal) was launched.

The Allianz virtual team:
- Thomas Ceccon, swimming star, born in 2001, already an Olympic medallist at the age of 20, is the new face of Italian swimming, holder of the 100 backstroke world record (51''60) in Budapest in 2021, world champion in the 50m butterfly at the 2023 World Championships, silver and bronze medallist in the 4x100 freestyle and 4x100 mixed relays at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. A pure talent, he is already an icon of the Italian sports lifestyle.
- Antonio Fantin, born in 2001, is a demonstration of how a difficult illness can be overcome even by starting a sporting activity and continuing it with great success. Paralympic champion in Tokyo 2020, as well as ten times world champion and ten times European champion, Antonio is world record holder in the 100 metres S6 in 1'02"70: the same race in which he is Olympic champion. A champion in the pool as well as in life, he is unstoppable.
- Giulia Ghiretti, from a promising young Italian, after an accident on the trampoline in 2010 has become a winning Paralympic swimmer, so much so that she is the reigning world and European champion, having won 27 international medals between Paralympics, World and European Championships, with exploits in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. In the water Giulia has found her habitat: it is there that she feels free.
- Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine, a young but already established promise of Italian boxing, born in 1998, vice-champion in the heavyweight category at the World Championships in Tashkent in 2023, also holds a continental gold medal. Grown up in the myth of the sacred monsters of international boxing, he is the new good giant of Italian boxing.
- Sofia Raffaeli, the first Italian in history to win an individual gold medal at the World Championships in rhythmic gymnastics and the 2022 World All-Around Champion. At the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Valencia, she became Vice World Champion, as well as winning silver at the finals on the ball and hoop. At only 20 years of age, Sofia has already rewritten history: no Italian gymnast before her had managed to win 5 golds out of 5 at a World Cup.
- Giorgia Villa, gold medallist on beam at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup 2023 in Baku as well as team bronze medallist at the World Championships in Stuttgart 2019, team gold medallist at the European Championships in Munich 2022 and silver medallist in 2023. Twenty years old, after missing the participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games due to a sprained ankle, she is now aiming for her revenge in Paris 2024.
- Alice Volpi, absolute star at the 2023 Fencing World Championships in Milan, winner in the women's foil and team bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, has won 5 world golds and 4 European titles in her career. Thirty-two years old, her favourite TV series is 'The Iron Throne': Paris awaits her.