Five weightlifters in Tokyo to be honored
Weigh-weighing: to Tokyo with ambition
On Monday, five Italian Olympic Weightlifting Athletes will leave the Acqua Acetosa Olympic Preparation Center in Rome, and will depart for Tokyo: they are Nino Pizzolato (81 kg), Mirko Zanni (67 kg), Davide Ruiu (61 kg), Giorgia Bordignon (64 kg), and Maria Grazia Alemanno (59 kg). The five weightlifters will be supervised by National Technical Director Sebastiano Corbu, who will be accompanied for the Olympic trip by coaches Gonario Corbu and Pietro Roca. With them will be the Head of Delegation, the Secretary General of the Italian Weightlifting Federation, Francesco Bonincontro.
Nino Pizzolato, who will be competing in the category up to 81 kg, will present himself at the Tokyo Games as the reigning European Champion, third in the world ranking. Mirko Zanni will compete in the category up to 67 kg, he presents himself as the fifth athlete in the official Olympic ranking. Davide Ruiu, the youngest of the Italian expedition at 20 years of age, is 15th in the world ranking (in the category up to 61 kg) but qualifies for Tokyo as the first European beyond the first eight ex officio qualifiers. Giorgia Bordignon, in the category up to 64 kg, is sixth in the Olympic ranking and is competing in her second consecutive Olympics. Last, in terms of time, was Grazia Alemanno’s qualification, which came last July 2. The Apulian, who will compete in the category up to 59 kg, is ninth in the Olympic ranking.
“It is a great satisfaction – says FIPE President Antonio Urso – this is the result of a synergy between organizational, technical and tactical aspects of a Federation that has reached very high standards: this is demonstrated by the fact that three of our qualifiers are in the top ten and that two can fight for an important medal. In addition to the numerical aspect of the qualifiers, the result demonstrates the technical growth of the whole team and of FIPE, which has become a reference point at the international level. Today we can say that we have created an international school of Olympic weightlifting. A special ‘Thank you’ obviously goes to all the athletes who obtained the pass but also to all those who struggled to qualify; thanks to the Technical Director Sebastiano Corbu, for guiding the team along this path and to all the technicians; thanks to the health staff, the Federal Council and all the Secretariat, who with a daily synergic work allowed FIPE today to be able to rejoice in this extraordinary result, the most important of the four-year Olympic period.”
