Two golds and one silver. Exceptional numbers for Sardinia at the Paris Olympics, which in the medal table would be above nations such as Austria, Poland, Jamaica, Greece, Portugal .
This is a record edition, the best ever for the Quattro Mori. The first medal was brought by Stefano Oppo from Oristano , the rower who for years now – be it the Olympics, European Championships, World Championships – never returns home empty-handed. With Soares he won the silver medal in the lightweight double sculls , in Tokyo he was bronze in the same specialty.
The next day came the masterpiece of Marta Maggetti in windsurfing . The Cagliari native took home the gold medal , rewriting the history of Italian sailing 24 years after Alessandra Sensini's triumph in Sydney. An extraordinary medal race for the athlete who grew up training in the Gulf of Cagliari. Last when there was not much left to go, she had a brilliant intuition choosing a completely different trajectory from that of her highly rated rivals that led her to victory.
Finally, the gold medal for women's volleyball , which closed the Italian Games in triumph. The great protagonist was Alessia Orro from Narbolia, who was also elected best setter of the tournament . The Italian women's volleyball team had never won a medal at the Olympic Games.
The Island also took home two golds in Tokyo in 1964 (Ferdinando Atzori in boxing and Paolo Angioni in team equestrianism), but there were no other medals. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were also excellent, when there were golds for Tortu and Patta (both in the same race, the 4x100 in athletics) and bronze for Oppo. So, in terms of medals, this is the best Olympic expedition ever for Sardinia . And to think that in the early years of the 21st century, from Sydney 2000 to Beijing 2008 via Athens 2004, the Island struggled to bring its own representatives to the Games (it only brought one per edition). A real explosion of the movement: eleven athletes in Tokyo, eight in Paris. And six medals in two editions, including four golds.
The others
Nicola Bartolini did well, a nice sixth place for Italy in the all-around team competition of artistic gymnastics. Sergio Massidda won the gold of tenderness : world silver in weightlifting, he disappointed at the Games and burst into tears during the post-competition interview remembering the promise he made to his grandfather who passed away. He will have time to keep it, starting from Los Angeles: he is a champion and is only 22 years old. Lorenzo Patta also did well: excluded from the semifinal of the 4x100, he ran great in the final handing over the baton to Filippo Tortu in second place , a stone's throw from Japan. The one who disappointed was the hero of Tokyo, who collapsed in the final part leaving Italy at the foot of the podium , when at a certain point it seemed he could even repeat the feat of Tokyo. Tortu also did badly in the 200, where he did not reach the final. Dalia Kaddari also played badly, but not much was expected from the Quartese player given that she wasn't at her best and was coming off a period of inactivity.
