In recent months we have dealt with the story of Giuseppe Barrecatechnical judo teacher ofASD Athletic Center of Reggio CalabriaFijlkam affiliated sports association, who after two cruciate ruptures had found the physical strength and will to get back on his feet to realize the dream of treading one of the most famous tatamis in the world. The master from Reggio, in fact, obtained a certification diploma on one of the Del Judo said (Nage no Kata) at the Kadokan Judo Instituto di Tokyotemple of international judo, also taking the exam to become a black belt.
He passed the exam already in the summer, with the official certification delivered to him, complete with graduation parchment, a few days ago which made him the first Japanese judo belt in the history of the city.
Unfortunately, Giuseppe’s story experienced another negative moment. “I pushed too much in training and reached the limit – he tells StrettoWeb – the knee held up and the cruciate was blown again. He will have to have a third operation on the same knee, a possibility and a risk that I had taken into account but which does not make me regret the choice made. Unfortunately, the third operation is more expensive, furthermore, after a year spent intensely I didn’t have the mental energy to operate immediately to face 12-18 months to recover“.
Yet, Giuseppe has found, once again, the way to transform a human and sporting drama into a new opportunity for rebirth. “Fate gave me a new chance – tells -. I was called as a torchbearer for the Cortina Olympics. On December 19th I ran for a stretch of the municipality of Giarre (Catania), carrying a global symbol. As an athlete I dreamed of training in Japan and participating in the Olympics. Even if it wasn’t as an athlete, this year I managed to achieve everything starting from less than zero.
Taking up one reflection made in one of our editorials on the Olympic Flame, Barreca explains: “people from Reggio have the bad habit of not knowing how to appreciate what they have, including stories of simple people who, within the limits of their possibilities, have made their dreams come true. For many the Olympic Flame means little, for some it will just be a superficial ‘honour’ to boast about… for others it was the realization of a dream, despite the falls, despite the limits and difficulties, going further is something that a person from Reggio knows how to do“.
