numbers, age and curiosities about the blue expedition

by Marianna Grazi

Tokyo is the day of the Opening Ceremony of the XVI Paralympic Games, scheduled at 13 (Italian) hours at the Olympic stadium in the Japanese capital. From today until September 5th, over 4500 athletes representing 163 countries they will compete in the most coveted competition, the five-circle dream that all athletes pursue in their career. There are up for grabs 540 medals but above all the glory of climbing to the top of the Olympus of sport.

The show will not miss, and neither will the emotions. As well as the passion that accompanies these athletes, united by the values ​​ofinclusion and of solidarity that have always distinguished the event. Sure, the stadiums will be empty (or almost, we talked about it here) due to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to be scary in Japan, but the typhus it will certainly not be missing, from every corner of the Earth.

Captained by the two flag bearers, Bebe Vio (fencing) and Federico Morlacchi (swimming), the Italian team is ready to take the field, fierce and ready to give joy to all fans. Meanwhile, it is already one record shipping: they will in fact 113 (115 if we also consider Charlotte Bonin, guide of Anna Barbaro – paratriathlon athlete – and helmsman of the 4 + PR3 Mix Lorena Fuina) – 14.14% more than in the Rio 2016 edition – land blue and blue who will participate in the Paralympics in 15 disciplines, with one female presence higher than male (60 athletes and 53 athletes), equal to 53.1%. A large, inclusive, equal and… young team. L’middle age of the summoned is in fact 33 years old, about 3 less than in the Brazilian Paralympics. The younger is 18-year-old Matteo Parenzan (table tennis), while the veteran is the multi-medal winner Francesca Porcellato, 51 years old, in its eleventh Paralympics. Sixty-nine rookies.

In Rio the blue expedition had won 39 medals overall (10 golds, 14 silvers, 15 bronzes) and 9th place in the medal table. The objective in the Japanese capital is to improve this result. But let’s see in detail, discipline by discipline, who are the Italian athletes * in Tokyo 2020:

ATHLETICS
Martina Caironi, Marco Cicchetti, Francesca Cipelli, Monica Contrafatto, Oxana Corso, Ndiaga Dieng, Assunta Legnante, Alessandro Ossola, Nicky Russo, Ambra Sabatini, Oney Tapi

CANOE
Veronica Silvia Biglia, Eleonora De Paolis, Esteban Gabriel Farias, Federico Mancarella

ROWING
Lorenzo Bernard, Alessandro Brancato, Gianfilippo Mirabile, Greta Muti, Chiara Nardo, Cristina Scazzosi, Lorena Fuina (helmsman)

CYCLING
Katia Aere, Pierpaolo Addesi, Fabio Anobile, Paolo Cecchetto, Diego Colombari, Fabrizio Cornegliani, Giorgio Farroni, Luca Mazzone, Francesca Porcellato, Andrea Tarlao, Ana Vitelaru

Ana Vitelaru

EQUITATION
Sara Morganti, Francesca Salvadè, Carola Semperboni, Federica Sileoni

Federica Sileoni

JUDO
Carolina Costa, Matilde Lauria

I SWIM
Alberto Amodeo, Simone Barlaam, Federico Bassani; Luigi Beggiato, Alessia Berra, Francesco Bettella, Vittoria Bianco, Federico Bicelli, Francesco Bocciardo, Monica Boggioni, Vincenzo Boni, Simone Ciulli, Antonio Fantin, Giulia Ghiretti, Carlotta Gilli, Giorgia Marchi, Emmanuele Marigliano, Riccardo Menciotti, Efrem Morelli, Federico Morlacchi , Xenia Francesca Palazzo, Misha Palazzo, Angela Procida, Martina Rabbolini, Stefano Raimondi, Alessia Scortechini, Arianna Talamona, Giulia Terzi, Arjola Trimi

FENCING
Matteo Betti, Marco Cima, Edoardo Giordan, Emanuele Lambertini, Ionela Andreea Mogos, Rossana Pasquino, Loredana Trigilia, Beatrice Maria Vio

SITTING VOLLEY
Giulia Aringhieri, Raffaella Battaglia, Flavia Barigelli, Giulia Bellandi, Silvia Biasi, Francesca Bosio, Eva Ceccatelli, Sara Cirelli, Sara Desini, Francesca Fossato, Roberta Pedrelli, Alessandra Vitale

WEIGHTLIFTING
Donato Telesca

Donato Telesca

TAEKWONDO
Antonino Bossolo

TABLE TENNIS
Andrea Borgato, Michela Brunelli, Federico Falco, Amine Mohamed Kalem, Matteo Orsi, Matteo Parenzan, Giada Rossi

Matteo Parenzan

SHOOTING
Jacopo Cappelli, Nadia Fario, Andrea Liverani, Pamela Novaglio

Jacopo Cappelli

ARCHERY
Matteo Bonacina, Giampaolo Cancelli, Elisabetta Mijno, Asia Pellizzari, Vincenza Petrilli, Eleonora Sarti, Stefano Travisani, Maria Andrea Virgilio

TRIATHLON
Giovanni Achenza, Anna Barbaro (guide Charlotte Bonin), Alberto Buccoliero, Rita Cuccuru, Veronica Yoko Plebani