Now that the Paris Olympics are over, now that the overdose of hypocrisy has ruined our nervous system, now that we are trying to lift our heads out of the slime in which social media has plunged us, perhaps it would be a good idea for us to begin to set the record straight about what sport is, what politics is, and why sport always wins in the end.
The Italian case in this regard has been glaring.
As always happens at major sporting events, party leaders, office-bearers, spin doctors, keyboard jugglers and the whole mass of sheeple who punctually tag along, have raved about disposable comments and speeches to put themselves in the spotlight instead of the athletes. Never more so than in this case, however: what happened in the hottest August ever reached unthinkable levels of paroxysm and madness.
There were four key moments, the first being the opening ceremony. Accomplicated by the rain that punctuated its various acts, the show that inaugurated the Games - debatable as long as one likes - became the ring in which the left and right of our house beat the crap out of each other.
There is no doubt that the show put on by the French, with the declared purpose of emphasizing the secular nature of the event, registered nontrivial lapses in style. But the violence with which our politicians hurled themselves at each other, resulting in a brawl worthy of the worst Italian westerns, immediately gave the measure of what was waiting for us. So much for the Olympic spirit. And of the athletes parading around waiting to kick off the competitions.
The second key moment was the women's boxing match between Imane Khelif and our own Angela Carini. Against the Algerian, guilty of having a natural production of testosterone higher than average, a real virtual battle was unleashed involving, in addition to Prime Minister Meloni and Minister of Transport Salvini, even tycoon Elon Musk and White House candidate Donald Trump. An impressive barrage, complete with the intervention of the IOC urged by our prime minister. Which, as was clear from the first moment, produced nothing because nothing could produce, but it did flywheel by unleashing such a ruckus as to push the athlete to press charges for aggravated cyberbullying. On the other hand, after being called "a man turned woman," "a trans man," "a transgender boxer," and "a transitioning athlete," what could she have done?
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The third phase was that relating to the races in the Seine. Now, the fact that the French have succeeded in the feat of making the river that runs through Paris swimmable should have been considered a merit in a process aimed at safeguarding the planet. Given that no human with an ounce of brain can think that rivers should continue to be sewers into which all the waste that humanity produces, whether urban or industrial in nature, one could have questioned the appropriateness of emphasizing the step forward that was being taken before the eyes of the world. But no. Again, the propaganda machine set up an impressive demolition effort. Slipping into the folds of the controls that monitored the health of the waters, the various cybernetic beasts put their best foot forward by mounting a social storm against the French, complete with graphic elaborations in which Macron was depicted swimming among rats, the Eiffel Tower bent over to vomit, the five circles turned into cloaca. Too bad that the races in the Seine took place regularly, no athletes had any serious problems, and the golden turd ended up, as it should have ended up, in the mouths - pardon, on the keyboard - of fools.
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Then-and we are at the key moment, the one that closed Paris 2024-came the women's volleyball team. Which triumphed against the U.S. and brought home the gold medal, the medal that no Italian national volleyball team had ever managed to win. And it did so at the end of an extraordinary ride in which it lost only one set: also never happened in the history of the Olympic Games. A national team led by a non-EU Argentine naturalized Italian, Julio Velasco. A multi-ethnic national team, a clear mirror of the society in which we live. Composed of Ekaterina Antropova, 21, of Russian origin; Caterina Bosetti, 30, born in Busto Arsizio; Sarah Luisa Fahr, 22, a naturalized German; Gaia Giovannini, 22, from Bologna; Carlotta Cambi, 28, from Tuscany; Anna Danesi, 28, from Brescia; Marina Lubian, 24, from Turin; Loveth Omoruyi, 21, from Lombardy of Nigerian descent; Alessia Orro, 26, from Sardinia; Monica De Gennaro, 37, from Sorrento; Miriam Sylla, 27, from Palermo, born of Ivorian parents; Ilaria Spirito, 30, from Liguria; Alice De Gradi, 28, from Lombardy; Paola Egonu, 25, from Veneto of Nigerian descent.
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Lucca Judge Alessandro Dal Torrione last June dismissed the lawsuit filed by Paola Egonu against former Armed Forces general Roberto Vannacci, who was elected to the European Parliament in the ranks of the League. The gip argued that the phrase "Egonu's somatic features do not represent Italian-ness," written by Vannacci in his best seller, "The World in Reverse," was inappropriate but not disparaging.
In the profusion of institutional tweets - Meloni and Salvini in the lead - that greeted the triumph of the Azzurre, Vannacci once again wanted to stand out. "I confirm that Paola Egonu's somatic features do not represent Italian-ness." Paola Egonu, after receiving the award as the best volleyball player of the Olympics, responded by ignoring it, "I am very happy and very proud of us women, it has been a wonderful journey. I dedicate the victory to my grandfather who passed away and I hope he is proud of me."
Who do you think won?
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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