Controversy erupts in blue curling: "Dt’s daughter summoned in my place"

Polemic erupts in the women’s national curling team just days before the start of the Milan Cortina Olympics. Angela Romei, a 10-year member of the team that came fourth with Italy at the 2024 World Championships in Canada, has been excluded from the call-ups for the Winter Games that the Azzurre will play at home. Angela Romei in an interview with La Stampa strongly objected to the choice of technical director Marco Mariani, who instead summoned 19-year-old Rebecca Mariani, her daughter.

“Marco Mariani told me a few days ago in a phone call that took place right after the last gathering. We could have talked about it face to face, I would have expected at least a discussion based on data and results. He merely told me that that was a decision made by him and that in my place his daughter Rebecca, who is 19 and has zero international events with the senior national team” would be summoned. Romei, who had won the Fair Play award at the World Cup in Canada, can&#8217t get a break.

“I have an empty feeling. I closed my eyes and thought it was just a bad thought, but when I opened them again it was real and it was terrible. It’s an injustice to the work done over all these years and to the whole movement. I have always believed in human relationships, in fair play on and off the field and what happened to me is the antithesis of all this”. Technical director Marco Mariani in an interview with Corriere della Alpi responded to Romei’s harsh accusations.

“The turning point was above all the missed medal at the European Championships and in general a fairly long period where the results we hoped for did not come. Already since the beginning of the season we have been giving chances to the more broken-in athletes, changing formation often to try to find a square. I think, given the recent performances, it was necessary to shake things up. I knew that this choice would lead to controversy, but at the same time I don”t see what reason Rebecca has to be discriminated against just because she is my daughter”.

The Italian Ice Sports Federation in a note defended the dt, giving reasons for the choice: “Mariani has already played in three international tournaments this season with the senior national team and in two of them the team reached the semifinals, including last week” the Perth Masters tournament.

“In the alternate (reserve) role, she possesses playing characteristics that allow her to occupy all four roles on the team unlike Romei, who has always occupied only one (and a second on only two occasions). This gives the D.T. a guarantee and broader coverage in case of need” reads the note.