Paltrinieri, silver redemption: “To win I need to feel bad”

FUKUOKA. If you throw yourself into the water like a rag and come out with a silver, your name is Gregorio Paltrinieri, the champion who understood «that I need to feel bad to win, because competing is no longer enough for me». For the blue, competition is an extreme yearning and the more time passes the more intensely he experiences it. Years go by, medals accumulate and he seems to have the need to torture himself to prove himself extraordinary.

The 5 km cannot be the redemption of the 10 km which is an Olympic race and brings with it the first chance of qualifying, but it is yet another test of character, in which Italy occupies the second and third step with Domenico bitterness. Wellbrock wins again and scores twice and would know he dominated were it not for the fact that he, in the best form ever seen, was unable to get rid of Paltrinieri or even Acerenza, but it is above all Greg who is behind him, who is on top of him, attacked, glued right up to until there is no more energy left to insist: «I always believe I can beat him, of course, I should be fine. In the 10km it seemed to me we were in two different worlds, not here. There is war, there will be, it will continue in the tank and also next year, the most important one. You just have to feel good and it’s not easy, on the contrary it becomes more and more complicated ». And tormented.

Paltrinieri’s stomach has turned in the competition area since he was a child. Mom and dad who came to cheer him on in Japan also remember him: «We went to get him when he was among the rookies, shaken up». Over time he has learned to manage, but now that the tension rises and the competitive spirit is devastating him, the problem is growing and he deserves further checks. They will be done, for now the federal doctor will take care of giving him a hand and in fact he takes the first thank you shouted directly from the podium area: “Doc, I was still in the bathroom without you”. Paltrinieri finds his smile again, but his face remains very tight, his physique much slimmer than usual, it’s his head that I put in what his physique doesn’t have, even if things are better. There will be time to explore this short circuit between brain and stomach, now there are good sensations to exploit, there is another race at sea, the relay, in two days and then another in the pool, the 800 meters and yet another the 1500m of which the 2016 Olympic champion wants to defend the title. He wants a lot, especially from himself and begins to have the worm of creating complications to get there: «Every time I need to fall, worse and worse, to realize that I can do well. I need to feel like crap because in this way the chase obsesses me, I get wild ». An addiction to ambition that continues to take him to the podium. And he always asks for more.