A summer that’s blue in a different way and full of gold

It’s a summer of a different kind of blue. An Italian summer without the national football team, but full of gold. And once again, as so often happens at the Games, it was the girls who taught us to fly. Chiara Pellacani, Ginevra Taddeucci and Martina Favaretto – across diving, open water swimming and fencing – have guided us over recent weeks towards a medal haul we could never have expected to be so dazzling. From Hong Kong to Paris, blue has once again been the colour of the moment, as if the impact of the Games never ends. At the World Fencing Championships, we won four golds and four silvers, adding to Martina’s success the victories of the foil teams (men’s and women’s) and the women’s épée team, thereby topping the medal table, of course. This is exactly what we need as we march towards Los Angeles 2028, when the Americans will be competing on home soil and reaping the rewards of the investments they are making for that occasion. The beauty of Italian fencing is that it has found continuity between the champions of yesterday and those of tomorrow. No sooner have they retired than their successors are already on the piste, ready to carry on the tradition. This was perfectly illustrated by the women’s foil final, where Martina beat the ever-present Arianna Errigo.

The star of the summer, whilst we await the athletics events about to get underway at the European Championships and, later on, the national volleyball and women’s basketball teams, was Chiara Pellacani with her five gold medals in five events. The phrase that sums up her incredible week was uttered by her father Paolo, a colleague at La 7: “I teased her,” he said, “but have you eaten a Chinese girl?” She was so perfect in her dives that we could barely hear the sound of the water as she cut through it, making the comparison with Chinese divers a natural one. She seemed just like a Chinese diver herself – born in Rome and now living in Miami to study and train. “I used to dream of having my photo taken with the five medals,” she said. Now that photo really exists, and the five medals are all gold. It’s something we’ve never seen before in the history of diving, even though Tania Cagnotto has twenty European golds at home. “At these European Championships, I realised the leap in quality, with so many dives at the very highest level. Little by little, I’m trying to catch up with the Chinese,” she said. Around her neck she wears a pendant featuring the five rings. For her, too, the goal is Los Angeles, where a medal is no longer a pipe dream.

From the clear waters of the Saint-Denis swimming pool to those of the Seine, where Ginevra Taddeucci won gold in the 5- and 10-kilometre events and bronze in the knockout, despite having already clocked up many kilometres in her legs compared to her rivals. She beat her rivals and the Seine: “I found all sorts in there. It was an absolute mess,” she told Rai reporters, even managing to get past the beep of the censor. Three medals in three races, and there’s still the relay to come, where she and Paltrinieri could bring us more medals. Meanwhile, our girls haven’t let up at all. Five medals in five races for Chiara, three in three races for Ginevra, and two in two races for Martina and Arianna. It’s not just a blue summer – it’s a pink one.