Another medal and four more hopes in the pipeline. For the rest, still disappointments. This is how it is summarized day number 7 of the London 2012 Olympics, which saw athletics enter the scene with the first races at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
The medal of the day, the only one for Italy, is a splendid bronze and comes once again from the always reliable fencing: this time it is the sabers Diego Occhiuzzi (already individual silver), Aldo Montano (in his fourth career Olympic medal, after individual gold in Athens 2004), Luigi Tarantino and the young but brilliant Luigi Samele, who took home the podium in the team event, beating Russia in the final 45-40.
For Italy the 12th medal, of which exactly half (2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze) came from the fencing platforms. And that's not all: there is still the team men's foil test, where Cassarà Baldini and Aspromonte will be able to redeem the disappointment of the individual, finished without metals around the neck.
The other glimpses of blue of a still chilly day overall, and not only due to the London climate (rowing, sailing, tennis, boxing and the usual swimming disappoint in particular), come from diving, where both Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dellapè qualified for the semifinal of the 3m springboard. The daughter of art in particular was very brilliant and she achieved the third score, applying more and more for a medal behind the unbeatable Chinese.
Well also the beach volleyball: the blue duo Nicolai-Lupo does a great feat by eliminating the Americans Rogers-Dallhauser, reigning Olympic championsand thus made it to the quarterfinals. But the real surprise of the day is the unexpected – but very brilliant – qualification of 30-year-old Yuri Floriani in the final of the 3000 steeplechase, finishing second in his battery behind only the Kenyan favorite Kipruto, and not even that far from the winner. The final is scheduled for Saturday.
The fourth and final hope, perhaps the least surprising (despite the overall debacle of the movement), and at the same time the one that most smells like a medal, is to Gregorio Paltrinieri, just 17 years old but already European champion of the 1.500m freestyle and today simply thrilling in qualifying: he set the fourth fastest time in absolute fluency, dominating his battery far and wide and even allowing himself to take a breather in the last pool, after having been an abundant second below the Italian record for almost the entire race. He's the last swimmer left in the race, and you'll see that maybe he'll be the one to fix it. Final (not to be missed) scheduled for Saturday.
