«The race is long. I’m 72 arrows. You never know how you can end up. Maybe you are in the lead but at the last points everything changes ». Lucilla Boari is the first Italian to win an individual medal in archery during the history of the Olympics. A bronze, won in Tokyo 2020 against the American Brown. The score makes it clear who dominated: the race is over 6-1 for Boari. In the press conference live from Casa Italia, the athlete explained that her passion for the bow was born from an early age, thanks above all to the example of her father: «I started shooting when I was 7. With times when things don’t go well. Then there are the beautiful moments and the beautiful moments, like this one ». In addition to the celebrations for the first medal in this Olympics for an Italian woman in an individual discipline, during the conference there was also space for a moment of emotion. Boari received several live video messages. The first came from Sandro, one of his best friends: «What have you done Luci? What have you done?”. The second instead from Sanne de Laat, a Dutch archer: “I love you so much, I’m very proud of what you did, I can’t wait for you to come back, I’m waiting for you to give you a big hug”. After the video Boari commented: «This is Sanne, my girlfriend».
Cover image: EPA / KIYOSHI OTA
