(PRIMASPORT) TRENTO – The impressive medal collection collected by two visually impaired skiers Giacomo Bertagnolli and Chiara Mazzel (and their respective guides Andrea Ravelli and Nicola Cottini) and monoski instructor Renè De Silvestro at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics brings to mind Stephen Hawking's prediction at the 2012 London Paralympics: "The Paralympic movement will change our perception of the world." Their successes, the growing public interest, and even the very recent merger between FISIP and FISI (which brings together Olympic and Paralympic winter sports athletes) represent, for the five athletes present at the Trento Sports Festival, "a sign that things have changed and that they can only get better.".
Raising the bar ever higher is the goal of Bertagnolli, who has collected five medals in five competitions—bronze in downhill, silver in super-G and giant slalom, gold in combined and slalom—Mazzel, who has taken home four—silver in downhill, combined, and giant slalom, gold in the women's vision-impaired super-G—and De Silvestro, who has earned two medals—a silver in the combined and a gold in the giant slalom. While waiting to resume training with the new Federation, the quintet revisited the highlights of Milan-Cortina, and beyond, on the stage of the Trentino festival, increasingly becoming a sports academy.
“Visually impaired from birth, I started skiing at 13. At 15, I was on the national team and reached the podium at the World Cup in St. Moritz. In my final year, I won four medals in PyeongChang and four in Beijing—where I competed for the first time with Andrea Ravelli as my guide. This time, I wanted to get 5 out of 5, and I did,” Bertagnolli said. “But the race I'll never forget was my last. I had a torn meniscus, and it was so foggy, Andrea couldn't see as well as I could. It was an extreme experience, but one I'll always cherish.”.
A different path for Mazzel, who lost her sight due to illness: "After my diagnosis, I locked myself at home for two years, but it's thanks to sport that I've regained control of my life. For me, the most incredible moment was winning gold. A completely unexpected gold, especially since I had a severe headache. On that occasion," she added, "I truly understood the value of my mentor's empathy: he simply told me to hold on for another minute and it led me to success." De Silvestro's memory is clearly paternal: "For me, the most incredible thing was winning gold in front of my daughter, who was two and a half years old at the time. It moves me to think that one day she will remember me as I climb onto the podium," said the athlete from San Candido. "But participating in Milan-Cortina, a truly home Olympics for me, was a special occasion in other ways too: if I continued skiing after the accident that caused me a spinal cord injury in 2013, it's also because I had friends and family around me. Being able to give them (and my fan club) a chance to celebrate was a huge joy.". (PRIMASPORT)
