Viva Italia! Olympic golds follow soccer and song successes

TOKYO – The archetypal hints that this was Italy’s twelvemonth came erstwhile Italian set Maneskin won the fashionable Eurovision Song Contest successful May.

Then came the European Championship shot rubric run successful June and July.

To apical it each off, connected the archetypal time of August, Marcell Jacobs won the 100 meters astatine the Tokyo Olympics to win Usain Bolt arsenic The World’s Fastest Man.

And who was the archetypal antheral to clasp Jacobs aft helium crossed the enactment successful a personal-best 9.8 seconds connected Sunday? That would beryllium Gianmarco Tamberi, the Italian precocious jumper who had conscionable won golden successful his lawsuit successful a necktie with Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar.

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Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malagò called it “the top time successful Italian sports history.”

“We’ve accomplished thing epic and bonzer — conscionable similar the shot occurrence — and it’s uniting the country,” Malagò said. “We’ve had immoderate epic victories, similar winning the World Cup of shot (four times), but successful presumption of the (Olympics), this is thing that the grandchildren of our grandchildren volition work astir successful past books 1 day.”

The successes person been a invited respite for a state that spent overmuch of the past 16 months successful assorted stages of lockdown. Italy was the archetypal state extracurricular Asia to get deed by the COVID-19 pandemic and suffered immensely, peculiarly successful the outpouring of 2020 erstwhile hospitals successful bluish Italy were overwhelmed with patients and the decease toll soared. Italy has recorded much than 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest successful the 27-nation European Union.

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Malagò discussed the bonzer lengths that helium personally was progressive successful to marque definite that athletes similar Tamberi and Jacobs could proceed grooming during the assorted lockdowns.

For an athletics squad that didn’t triumph a azygous medal astatine the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the unit was on.

“And present we’ve got The World’s Fastest Man and the antheral who jumps the highest,” Malagò said. “Marcello and ‘Jimbo’ person made each Italians proud. Words don’t bash them justice.”

With inactive a week to go, Italy already has won a full of 26 medals astatine the Games crossed each sports, lone 2 less than the Azzurri took location from Rio.

Jacobs was calved successful Texas to an American begetter and an Italian mother. The parents divided erstwhile Jacobs was 6 months aged and helium moved to Italy and ne'er got to cognize his dad. They reconnected astir a twelvemonth ago by phone, arsenic the sprinter tried to larn astir his roots.

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Vivian Masini, Jacobs’ mother, watched her son’s contention from her location successful bluish Italy, wherever she runs a tiny hotel.

“I spoke to him betwixt the heats and the semifinal, and earlier the final,” Masini told Sky Italia. “He was having a massage to fto retired (the nerves) earlier the final. … He wanted to person a laugh, and helium told me, ‘Mom, don’t worry, I cognize what I’m doing.’

“Marcell truly is simply a precise bully guy, humble, adjacent if sometimes helium privation to disguise this with his tattoos and his (wild) behavior,” she added. “But he’s a precise grounded person.”

Having grown up successful Desenzano del Garda, Jacobs moved a fewer years agone to the hometown of his coach, Paolo Camossi, successful Gorizia adjacent the borderline with Slovenia. Then they acceptable up astatine the Italian Olympic Committee’s grooming installation successful Rome, wherever Jacobs created a afloat enactment team.

Led by Camossi, the squad includes physiotherapist Alberto Marcellini, intelligence manager Nicoletta Romanazzi, nutritionist Giacomo Spazzini and manager Marcello Magnani.

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Romanazzi, who besides works with immoderate of Italy’s celebrated shot players, was the 1 who persuaded Jacobs to hunt for the begetter that helium ne'er knew.

If helium didn’t resoluteness the contented with his father, Romanazzi told Jacobs, helium would ne'er person the bid of caput to win astatine the highest level.

Jacobs, who has 3 children, went to enactment with his ma during the archetypal lockdown of the pandemic successful April 2020. He was fortunate that a neighbor, Alberto Papa, is an athletics enthusiast and acceptable up a 90-meter way connected the grounds of his villa. So portion galore athletes successful the state couldn’t train, Jacobs ran regular connected Papa’s track.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Andrew Dampf is astatine https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf

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