With their 71 boys selected in 19 disciplines, the Flames Gold they are the Italian sports group most present at the Tokyo Olympic Games, with almost 18,5 percent of the entire Italian team which, despite a few too many defections, especially among the teams, is the largest in the Italian history of the five-ring event. In this contingent, cycling finally plays an important role, with 6 girls in the race, 4 on the track and 2 on the road (with Elisa Balsamo called to act as a reserve for the race on July 25th).
Such a significant presence is already an important result for the entire cycling group, led by Senior Inspector Nicola Hirer, which to explain it retraces the brief history of the cycling section: «We started our journey in 2015 with 3 girls and already in Rio 2016 we brought 2 of them, including Elisa Longo Borghini who repaid us with his extraordinary bronze. Today the contingent has tripled, which means we did things right."
Did you have a say in their preparation?
The management of the girls in preparation for the Olympic event is entirely in the hands of the Federation and its coaches. We have often met with Salvoldi on girls' work always finding full harmony and the results also arise from this.
And what about organizing the trip?
There, the responsibility lies entirely with CONI, which has a specific office, that of Olympic Preparation. I don't deny that we would have liked to be there and we had also thought about organizing the trip to the Land of the Rising Sun for a delegation of the Fiamme Oro, But the difficulties related to the pandemic had made us desist. Then came the news that the Olympics would be held behind closed doors, and so our painful decision was supported by the facts.
What do you expect?
When it comes to making predictions, we are extremely superstitious... Jokes aside, 37 athletes from the Fiamme Oro showed up in Rio and won 7 medals, all things considered, we certainly expect great satisfaction. What is certain is that we have opportunities in all disciplines, cycling included, of course.
Looking from the outside, how do you judge the group?
We've worked really well, we'll be in Tokyo with a young team but one capable of competing with ambition in all the events. I went back to look at the results of last year's European Championships, many said they had little value given the absences, and yet we won the Madison against the British Olympic champions and in the quartet we won silver with an Olympic semifinal time. So why not hope? Then there's Elisa Longo Borghini: I met her at the Italian championship, she was impressive for her charge, she is the only one who can put the Dutch in difficulty, the women's Giro doesn't count, she's thinking about Tokyo.
Did you know that for the first time the pursuit quartet could be made up of athletes from a single sports group?
It's something that would make me very proud., it would be a very important message for our entire sports group regardless of the result.
Let's try to look beyond the responses Tokyo will give: does having six girls competing give a new push to expand the group?
Certainly, we are already focused on Paris 2024. If there are interesting prospects, we will certainly take them into consideration to expand the group. Our symbol clearly features the five Olympic rings, which means that our main goal is and always will be the Olympics. Our choices and strategies are always directed towards that goal. After Tokyo, we will sit down and discuss what to do next because time is running out.
