Paralympics underway, the strength of diversity. Mattarella in the stands, the first at the Quirinale

Paris, 28 August 2024 – “La Storia we are. Nobody feels excluded". It's true, you know? The verse of Francesco De Gregori's song perfectly captures the reality of Paralympics, inaugurated last night in the heart of the Ville Lumiere. History is us. Nobody feels excluded. With all due respect to those who have told the others badly Paris Games, proved to be an authentic popular triumph despite prejudices, here again the city of the Sun King, of Napoleon and of De Gaulle is ready for another moment of collective joy.

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The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics

I was looking last night, dear reader, the opening ceremony of the Paralympics. I watched and felt the atmosphere surrounding a special event in the air. I admired the boys and girls who paraded from the Champs Elysees to the Piazza della Concordia: proud of their diversity, happily strangers to the stigma of difference. Ambra Sabatini and Luca Mazzone they waved our flag: on behalf of everyone.

And it came to me one thing in mind, very personal, almost intimate. Forty years ago now, this newspaper was the first to give space to chronicles of sports for disabled people. It seemed like an oddity, indeed, for the time it was. Luckily for me (I don't mean lucky for the reader, I'm not that presumptuous!), the publisher of these publications encouraged what was, at the time, an experiment. And thank goodness.

Mattarella. Today, God willing, the collective sensitivity has changed. The horrible term 'handicapped' is no longer used. The world has moved forward and will never go back. Sergio Mattarella, our President of the Republic, understood this well. Never in the past had a Head of State participated in the opening ceremony of a Paralympics.

Mattarella he came to Paris, as he did a month ago for the inauguration of the traditional Games on the Seine. For those who have the antennas to capture the profound meaning of a message, this is a signal. Which here will hopefully be shared and replicated, in the next hundred years!, by his successors at the Quirinale.

Pancalli. After that, as it should be, the Paralympics also has its numbers linked to results, medals and appearances on the podium. Ignoring them, the numbers, would mean disrespecting the athletes. To keep things personal, Italy will be present with the largest delegation in history, made up of 141 Italians, 70 men and 71 women, who will compete in 17 disciplines.

The objective is to improve compared to the Tokyo 2021 edition. Then we won 69 medals, of which 14 gold, 29 silver and 26 bronze, which brought the Azzurri to ninth place in the medal table, thanks to the decisive contribution of swimming, which ensured 39 podiums, with 11 gold , 16 silvers and 12 bronzes. Said Pancalli, the president of CIP, the Italian Paralympic Committee: "The emotions are enormous and are always those that accompany such a great adventure. There is already the satisfaction of having achieved a special result: having the largest delegation as always for us it means that the Federations, the technical staff, the grassroots sports associations and the military bodies to which the athletes belong, the Paralympic Committee itself, have worked well. Now, we want to win as much as possible: because we are and we are we feel like those who preceded us a month ago here in Paris. We are Italy, one and always". Because we are history, no one feels excluded.