Bologna, 11 May 2024 – “Oui, bonjour”, then a big laugh. On the other end of the phone there is Federico Musolesi, 25 years old, blue archer. Faith is of Bolognagrew up in Castenaso Archery Team (now double membership with the Air Force sports group) by Carla Di Pasquale and these days he is in Essen, Germany. Tomorrow he will pull for the European title in teams – specialties archery -, but, in the meantime, his has already done it.
Federico, let’s explain what he’s been up to.
“Well, me and my teammates, Mauro Nespoli and Alessandro Paoli, have qualified for the European Championship final”.
Yes, but that initial joke of yours, answering in French…
“Here we are. Yes, we qualified for the Games. We would have needed gold to fly to Paris and we can still get it. But tomorrow we play France, which is qualified by right as the host country. This means that, even in the event of second place, we will go to the Olympics.”
Will you shoot for silver?
“Never. Maximum respect for them. But we want to play it.”
Did you expect it?
“We hoped so much. When they filled out the scoreboard we realized that we were in the part without passes. Over there already Türkiye and France. And going forward the satisfactions would come.”
Let’s retrace the journey.
“First Luxembourg then, in the quarterfinals, Spain. Never easy and never banal. The Netherlands in the semi-final. AND….”.
Tip.
“The apotheosis, the scream of joy”.
Happiness, therefore.
“We worked a lot. With a bit of luck we could have made it to Tokyo three years ago. But that’s okay.”
When will you compete?
“I would say at the end of July”.
No holidays?
“Patience. I’ll move them later. It’s a fantastic feeling.”
She is young, perhaps she doesn’t even know – among so many virtual heroes – who Robin Hood is.
“Of course. When I was little everyone gave me that label. The infallible archer. It bothered me at first, then I got used to it. And I have fun.”
And now who will steal something from?
“Nail?”.
Robin Hood, legend has it that he stole from the rich to give to the poor.
“So we try to emulate him. But on the racing field. Let’s steal, sportingly speaking, positions from other nations and try to move up.”
Dream of medals?
“It is early and perhaps even wrong to talk about objectives like this. We are competitive, yes. In teams, individuals and mixed teams. We deserved Paris. Now let’s enjoy it and have fun. We were really good, silencing those who didn’t believe in us.”
In his palmares?
“The Mediterranean Games at individual level in 2022. The European team championships, the European Games. A bronze in the World Cup, a fourth place in the World Cup.”
Always a Milan fan?
“Yes, I won’t change my mind”.
Still hopeful that one day they will call you to Milanello?
“Yes, I would really like that.”
Come Sinner.
“Maybe, like him. We will both be at the Games. What an emotion”.
2024-05-11 10:09:23
#Archery #Federico #Musolesi #Bologna #qualifies #Olympics #Robin #Hood
