«Maccarani understood the lesson. Butterflies are not well»- Corriere.it

«The girls are not well, the truth is this. Our butterflies are suffering what has happened and in a heavy way ». Gherardo Tecchi, number one in Italian gymnastics, does not hide the truth: the earthquake that has been upsetting rhythm and art since the end of October has certainly not exhausted its effects. And it is paradoxical that at the Medal Festival, which on Friday was supposed to celebrate an extraordinary year in terms of successes and memberships (+ 20%) for the movement, the atmosphere was anything but festive. The butterflies of the Desio Academy arrived late to the ceremony and with very long faces, absent and not awarded the techniques for reasons of opportunity, first of all the coach of the Azzurre (and former national technical director) Emanuela Maccarani awaiting the sporting procedure . All in a crucial 2023 for our butterflies who will have to earn the qualification for Paris 2024 at the moment acquired only by the world champion Sofia Raffaeli and on an individual basis. Tecchi is optimistic: «They are all really smart girls, of great quality – explains the president of the Fgi – and I think we have never had a group like this. So I am very confident that they will be able to achieve their goal.”

The Maccarani dilemma remains: deposed from the role of technical director and of the Academy, the Lombard continues to be the coach of the national team (the annual contract has just been renewed) together with the assistant Olga Tishina, who was also deferred. «Me against Emanuela Maccarani I have to be guaranteed – continues Tecchi – otherwise I would replace justice and it is the most wrong thing I can do. I think she understood the lesson, then ordinary and sporting justice will run their course. At the Accademia di Desio we will add a fourth person, during the week I will release the reservation on a technique that I have already seen, to be on the safe side. As president and as interim technical director, I have to watch my back. He must be a welcome person at Maccarani since he will have to work together and they will have to share the same training systems. In case something else happens he will have to replace her.’

The Federal Court will set the date of the proceedings (which must be concluded within 80 days in the first instance) next week. If Maccarani were to be acquitted, the accusatory thesis supported by the former butterflies Corradini, Basta and Galtarossa, who denounced what the federal prosecutors have defined «training methods that do not comply with the duties of correctness and professionalism, putting in place psychological pressures and provoking some gymnasts the onset of eating and psychological disorders», will be completely dismantled. Even a short disqualification will result in the immediate suspension of the coach on the eve of the first important matches. The meaning of the «coaching operation» by a new coach is to guarantee continuity: it is to be evaluated how the Butterflies, who are defending their coach to the hilt, will welcome the newcomer. At the Medal Festival the president of CONI Giovanni Malagò he reiterated the concept that “if it is true that no medal justifies certain behaviors, it is also true that judging people before trials is wrong and blasphemous”.