Irma Testa comes out: "Homosexuality in sport is still an imperfection"
“For fear of damaging their image, many sportsmen are silent and hide. It was like that for me too until a few months ago. But that Tokyo medal became my shield "
"I was an ambitious child, in the suburb of Torre Annunziata where I lived I saw the girls studying until middle school, few finished high school: if it went well they got engaged, got married and looked after the family. Now it's different, but 10-12 years old ago it was like that and I didn't like it. " So says Irma Testa, bronze medalist in Tokyo and the first Italian woman to win an Olympic medal in boxing, in an interview taken by news agencies.
The athlete, who participates in the project of the Onlus ActionAid "Team of change", to promote the fight against violence against women and early school leaving, just in recent days had made an important coming out. “The people who are close to me have known this for years - he said - but I think it is right now to tell everyone. Talking about sexual orientation in the world of sport has a special value, because champions are asked to be perfect. And for many, homosexuality is still an imperfection. For fear of damaging their image, many sportsmen are silent and hide. It was like that for me too until a few months ago. But that Tokyo medal has become my shield: now that the athlete Irma is safe, the female Irma can be sincere. And I do it at a time when exposing oneself has become fundamental ".
Speaking of violence, one might think that a boxer has an advantage and is capable of defending herself. But in reality it is not like this: "Boxing is not a self defense technique, without gloves I would not know how to punch a person in the face, nor would I ever do it. I can give the precise blow to get to the point, I would not be able to physically oppose a man in real life ". To assert herself in the world, as a woman and as a person, Irma chose a completely different path, after leaving school she went back to studying: "After realizing that it was important. I started hanging out with very interesting people to listen to and I didn't want to remain silent in a corner without knowing how to say mine. If you don't know anything you are not even capable of contradicting, you can believe whatever they tell you ".
"There are people who suffer from discrimination - his reflection - who are victims of bullying, who are unable to build a life because they do not know how to relate to a society that is hostile to them. Every human being should be protected and safe. Or at least protected. Who can protect you but the state, its institutions, its laws? There are still too many people discriminated against and this is not good. It is no longer good. I cannot do much, but I can, by telling the truth about myself, also to say that nothing is wrong ”.
(Unioneonline / vl)
