Games in history between medals and legacy

The final words of this Paralympic Games, which tonight bids farewell and makes an appointment in the French Alps in 2030, are by Jacopo Luchini, gold medallist in snowboarding: 'For me, sport has been an anchor of light and salvation. Ever since I was a child, I have been out in the open air, in the midst of nature. What a priceless emotion to ride a board and what I can say to everyone is: try, don't be afraid. Try them, try them all, somehow life will repay you." Just as it has repaid the Italian national team: with some races still to be held today (hopes in the 20km cross-country and men's slalom), it has made a record of 14 medals, with six golds, over and above the 13 successes of Lillehammer 1994 (to be precise, it should be considered that there were 66 events then, 79 today, so to exceed the medals/races ratio of 1994, Italia would have to get to 16 medals).

Beyond these somewhat painstaking accounts, the overall picture of the Paralympic movement in Italia Cortina is sparkling: how far it has come from the zero medal count of Sochi 2014, the five medals of Pyeongchang 2018, the seven of Beijing 2022 up to today. Merit for strategic vision that has become programming and nurtured year after year by the Italian Paralympic Committee and Federations (we always remember Tiziana Nasi's contribution and energy). Three actions that have set in motion good practices and unveiled potential athletes go in this direction: the contamination work with ski instructors activated by the federation; the public call for summer and winter sports introductory courses (and other sprouts will be seen in the future); the public call with the Ministry of Sport and Inail that allows people with disabilities who want to try skiing or snowboarding, through the sports clubs in the area, to have mono-skis or other aids, without having to invest money. Now, it is the responsibility of the CIP to sow new projects - only long-term planning pays off - and, above all, to fertilise existing ones, without regretting too much how much it will have to pay to the Azzurri champions. The 14 medals cost the CIP's coffers 1.53 million (745 thousand euros in 2022).

Just as results in sport come by planning, putting athletes and technicians in a position to train and grow, so too the country system has shown, despite Italy's thousand sins, that it knows how to plan a widespread, and therefore more complex, event, and how to do so by taking advantage of the opportunity to create accessible facilities: the almost 900 million invested between railway stations, undergrounds, historic (Arena) and modern buildings remain after the event has closed and are legacy, a legacy to offer everyone the same rights.

There is, then, something intangible and powerful. For what we have seen in the Santa Giulia Arena or at the foot of the Tofane, the most important legacy is the cultural one. At the Italia-USA luge hockey match, 8,992 fans were present, a record for a Winter Paralympics competition. Ordinary people got carried away, and could not have remained indifferent to the sporting spectacle, as did the children, also thanks to the 20,000 tickets distributed in schools by the Fondazione Milano Cortina. If you are 7, 10, 12 years old and you see Renè De Silvestro flying downhill on his monoski and then you find him in a wheelchair with gold around his neck singing the anthem, you will think that anything is possible. Thus, Paralympic sport enters society, everyday life and shows us that there is no freedom without courage. With Milan Cortina, a new sporting and social journey begins, or, perhaps, 'let's go, let's go, can't you see that we are off and running?