Over 38 million for the Paralympic movement

There is celebration at Casa Italia because four medals in one day at the Winter Paralympics in the past had never been seen before. The only one perhaps who is pensive is Simone Rasetti, the secretary of the Italian Paralympic Committee, because those successes mean satisfaction for the medal table and also the responsibility of paying prize money to the athletes: 100 thousand euro for gold medals (if they are skiers with a guide it is doubled), 55 thousand for silver medals and 35 thousand for third places: 'In the 2026 budget forecast, as in every Olympic year,' explains Rasetti, 'we had established a provision for prizes starting from the seven Beijing 2022 medals, including two golds. Today, halfway through the Paralympics, we are fortunately well above that figure and we will meet the commitment with reserves already available from the revision of many expenses, made in recent months, including the one relating to the loan of the Tre Fontane Federal Centre'.

The bulk of the CPI's accounts comes from the ordinary contribution of the State (over 30 million), plus 3 million from Inail and about the same amount from sponsorships and contributions from public and private entities: 'Until the end of the year, we will receive 1.8 million from the Paralympic Joint Marketing Programme Agreement, under which the CPI has ceded the right to exploit its trademarks for commercial purposes to the Milano Cortina Foundation, then we expect to increase the resources of private individuals thanks to the many negotiations already under way. The funds will be used to feed the Paralympics machine (4.1 million) because the home edition entails an increase in expenses, attributable to direct and indirect costs of the organisation, the management of Casa Italia, and above all the high-level preparation: 'We wanted to offer the athletes the best possible path in preparation for the Games because their medals, their message triggers a virtuous circle and fuels the strength of the movement. Which plays its social role in particular in the introduction to grassroots sporting activities: 'In the budget, the item 'Promotion of sport',' says the secretary, 'has been tweaked upwards and is now worth 3.5 million: it means talking about it in schools, going into the territory. And the role of the federations remains fundamental, to which we transfer the necessary financial means (almost half of the entire budget) to support clubs, athletes, and their families so that they have easier access to training camps. In addition, we have a duty to broaden the base of people with disabilities who approach sport. And they do it as a rehabilitation path and to find new motivation. For us, it is important to get them out of the house, and if, then, they achieve national team performances, even better'.

With a view to spreading the practice of sport, one should also read the CIP's project to identify, possibly in each region, a Paralympic reference centre (in Veneto, it will be the Polisportiva Terraglio) to overcome the logistical problems and shortage of facilities faced by disabled athletes: 'Once the Paralympics are over, we want to prepare,' explains Rasetti, 'specific infrastructural programmes and for the promotion of sporting activity that will attract the attention of the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry for Disabilities, with which we have already held lengthy talks in recent months. We are confident: with good projects, we can start'.