Beautiful and precise like Nikita, determined like her Emilian land, Jessica Rossi is truly a golden girl. Twenty years old, blond hair and sunny eyes, the champion from Crevalcore (Bologna) has shattered all records in clay pigeon shooting, Olympic pit, scoring 99 shots out of a hundred: world record, Olympic record, junior record, record in an Olympic final, record in a world final. And she knows it: “I will last a long time”, she promises.
Her touch on the trigger has the magic of great artists and like many of them, starting with Mozart, she was introduced to her instrument at an early age by her father Ivan, a great lover of this discipline. She was still a child when her father, to test her, threw two clay pigeons at her at the same time and she hit them both. It was her first masterpiece, a beginning that promised this splendid present.
Her scrupulously prepared Olympic competition leaves you amazed: apart from the mistake on the 92nd shot, "because I felt like laughing", Jessica never loses concentration even when she already has the medal in her pocket, with 5 shots to go. She continues her ritual, keeps the same rhythm and goes on serious, relentless, grinding one after the other the targets that separate her from the world record and then those that separate her from the legend: 99 out of a hundred, with the last fuchsia cloud to complete the result that tastes like a dream. And she guarantees: I can improve, doing one hundred per cent.
Naturally a big party in Crevalcore: after the fear of May, the house is uninhabitable, the damaged monuments. Big party in Emilia-Romagna that works and tries to get out of the damage left by the earthquake of a few months ago, bowing the head, pulling the belt. Because the earthquake in Emilia hit homes, but also jobs and in a context of international crisis, all of this is incredibly heavy. Yet they grit their teeth and there is no rhetoric when the new etoile of Italian sportsmen says: “this medal is for my great Emilia who never gives up”.
Sport is discipline and maybe it helps to better bear difficult situations. It's nice to see such mature young people, so capable of taking advantage of every experience and moving forward, to build something, to set a good example and sing the Mameli national anthem. In short, it is worthwhile to be moved once in a while and to appreciate the efforts, the sacrifices of these splendid boys.
On Jessica's Day, another son of Emilia, Gregorio Paltrinieri da Carpi attempts the feat, in the 1500s, tries to give hope to Italian swimming, after the disappointments and controversies of recent days. Greg doesn't make it, but it doesn't matter, he tries, performs well and finishes fifth in a competition where the Chinese Yang Sun with 14'31″02, improves his own world record by almost 3 seconds.
And it's not just the Emilians who are moved on this beautiful sports day. There is also Oscar Pistorius, the South African who has already won by conquering a place in London, but who also managed to qualify for the semifinals by placing second in the heat of the 400m race. And then there's the great fear for the Russian race walker Valerij Borchin who, a thousand meters from the finish, collapses to the ground. A scene that recalls that of the legendary Dorando Petri who in 1908, again in London, failed by a hair's breadth to win the gold, yet he conquered everyone's heart, leaving his mark on the history of the Olympics. You will see that what a certain Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin said one day is really true: the'important is not to win but to participate (with a winning spirit). Of course if your name is not Jessica Rossi…
