It’s a late July afternoon, Mom Ennia he is in his house in Darfo, he smiles as he tells us about his son Andrea. She holds some photographs in her hands, the memories mix with the emotion, they bring it straight back into all those shots that don’t seem to be so far away. Andrea surname ago Presti, a name already known in the Valley and for a few days has also bounced on national newspapers, because it is with him that Italy returns to Mister Olympia – the most important bodybuilding competition in the world, the one that Arnold Schwarzenegger won for seven times – after 28 years. A dream that comes true, a dream that crowns the sacrifices and work of a lifetime. Here, this very intense life tells us our mother Ennia, together with her we rewind the tape. Let’s go back to Andrea’s first steps, who today in addition to being a bodybuilding professional is a sports consultant who deals with athletic training “and not just in the field of bodybuilding as many believe”.
In the case of Andrea sport it must necessarily be synonymous with life: “Yes and it has been since he was very small. Andrea’s father, Maurizio, and I, in 1990 we opened the Coral sports center in Trescore. Andrea was three years old and he was always in the gym with us, his dad was an agonist in judo and therefore he approached the sport in this way. He has also become an agonist and has achieved excellent results. I must say, however, that he has always been fascinated by the weight room and bodybuilding, which he started doing from the age of 16 … at that age only because the body has to be trained, had it been for him he would have started much earlier. He always worked hard, his dad died when he was 16 and he decided to take the judo group and move on, even if he was in high school. Andrea has always been like this, very determined in everything he did, a hard head, if he has something in mind, no one convinces him to stop. At the same time it is also what makes me proud of him as a mother, it is not so obvious to find such young boys who put all their energy into sacrificing many other important aspects of life. I think, for example, of his friendships, how many times they pointed out to me that Andrea is not seen around, that he does not go to the clubs… well, this is also part of his life, and unfortunately many times the sacrifices from outside are not seen. Well, once again I’m not proud of him for the goal of Mister Olympia, but of the fact that he managed to reach his dream with perseverance, passion, sacrifices and with his own strength “.
But what did you think when Andrea decided to take this path? “I can’t say that I didn’t totally agree, but sure, I would have preferred other sports, because I too was among the ignorant people to whom bodybuilding didn’t even seem like a sport, but a discipline for its own sake, pure exhibitionism. So it wouldn’t have been the same if he had played basketball or tennis, I would have liked it more, even if I later understood his passion and therefore I became his first fan ”.
ON THE NEWSSTAND NUMBER FROM 27 AUGUST
