MICHIL'S NEWSLETTER
THE LUXURY OF RETURNING
Equality, sharing and solidarity. These are the three key ingredients of sport from which we must start again to make our world, full of inequalities, more inclusive. This is why we share the message that accompanies the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which will be held from 28 August to 8 September: everyone competes regardless of whether or not they have a disability. The campaign promoted by the International Paralympic Committee, which has also been supported by the Italian champion Bebe Vio, aims to overcome the narrative from some media that associates the participation of athletes with disabilities separately from the competition involving others. Among the faces present, two in particular moved us and made us reflect because of the strength of their stories! Their names are Valentina Petrillo and Manuel Bortuzzo. She is a beautiful example of revenge over prejudice, he of rebirth.
Valentina, visually impaired since the age of 14, fell in love with athletics as a girl, when the ‘arrow of the south’, Pietro Mennea, won the Olympic gold in Moscow in 1980. Since then, she has run a lot of tracks. In Paris, she competed for the podium in the 200 and 400 metres, in the women´s T12 category. This detail is significant, especially considering that the most insidious obstacle she faced was not physical but rooted in the minds of too many people: gender stigma. Valentina was born male and began her transition process in 2019, which led to her being legally recognized as a woman in 2023. However, as in many areas that govern our lives, the law is one thing, and societal perception is another.
It was in 2023 when, at the indoor masters championships in Ancona, a committee of 30 athletes had submitted a warning to the Federation to prevent Valentina from accessing the women´s changing rooms. Such news hurts the heart and remind us of the dark era of segregation in the 1950s and 60s, when the most basic freedom of simply existing was obstructed for many. For us, despite Paris and the competition, Valentina has already won the most important gold of all: being in the world as she is.
The story of Manuel Bortuzzo also keeps us on the edge of our seats and moves us deeply. His greatest lesson? Never give up, always chase your dreams, despite the twists and turns of life. A promising swimmer, Manuel was the victim of a shooting in Rome in 2019, which caused a spinal cord injury and resulted in paralysis of his lower limbs. After a long period of rehabilitation and with the resilience of a phoenix, Manuel chose to share his story in two books: "Rinascere. L’anno in cui ho ricominciato a vivere" (Born Again: The Year I Started Living Again) and "Soli nella tempesta" (Alone in the Storm). Five years after the tragic event, thanks to his coach Francesco Bonanni and his friend Aldo Montano, Manuel will compete in his first Paralympic Games. What a fantastic story life is!
