Carlo Calcagni is Italian champion: "Sport is rebirth, I chose to live"
Carlo Calcagni becomes overall Italian champion in the 100-meter T72. The feat comes in Grosseto, at the Italian Paralympic Athletics Absolute Championships. Here the Colonel of the Role of Honor of the Italian Army and athlete of the Defense Paralympic Sports Group (Keep Fit) stopped the stopwatch on the time of 15″46, not hiding his great satisfaction for the historic result.
“In the first day of competitions – writes Calcagni from Grosseto -, I crossed the finish line of the 100-meter T72 with a time of 15″46, despite a headwind of 3.5 m/s, winning the title of Italian Champion T72 category and that of Italian Absolute Champion. But what I won today goes far beyond a medal, far beyond a timing or a title. This is not just a race. It is a message. It is testimony. It is life”.
“For me, today more than ever, sport is everything. It is my daily medicine, my breath, my anchor – Calcagni adds -. It is that place where pain turns into strength, where fatigue becomes determination, where every limit can be overcome, even when the body is tested, every day, by illness. There are two ways of being in the world: survive or live. I choose to live, and I do so by running, sweating, falling and getting back up, defying every prediction, every diagnosis, every barrier”.
“Sports is not just competition, it is rebirth. It is proof that as long as we can move, we can fight. And as long as we can struggle, we are alive. Being a Paralympic athlete is not just about training and competing: it means living with pain, not letting it win. It means turning every training into a daily battle for dignity, for hope, for all those who are fighting their own silent war today. And today, as I was the overall winner at the end of all the batteries, I thought of those who cannot run, those who are stuck in a bed, those who are losing hope. This finish line is for you, to remind you that life must be run, even if only with your heart, even if only with your eyes, but it must be run, always and anyway. Never give up, despite everything and everyone, whatever it takes” is the conclusion of Carlo Calcagni”s splendid message.
