And on the fourth day, Italy was left dry. After the boom of medals in the first weekend, and Monday's silver medal for Niccolò Campriani in target shooting, on Tuesday the blue medal table was not increased. Yet the arrows in the bow of the Italian athletes in the competition were not few: it was the day of the men's foil competition, a specialty that Italy has dominated for years, especially with the girls (authors of a historic hat-trick on Saturday) but also with the men . And instead we didn't go beyond the fourth place of Andrea Baldini, while Cassarà and Aspromonte were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
But while it was legitimate to expect more from fencing, it is now clear that the swimming expedition is heading towards a real flop. So far zero medals, not even from the eagerly awaited Federica Pellegrini, who also failed to reach the podium in the 200m after the fifth place in the 400m. "I gave everything I can but that's it: I wasn't a medalist", the Venetian champion, adding: “I don't regret anything, I would do it all again. Now I'm starting from scratch and let's think about the relay". Serene declarations, which clash with the controversies stirred up a few hours earlier by her boyfriend Filippo Magnini, simply disastrous in the 100m heats, where he failed (as well as Luca Dotto) even to access the semifinal by swimming above 49 seconds.
The champion from Pesaro, disappointing (and furious) already after the bad relay with the 4×100, didn't take it well at all and at the end of the race he lashed out against the coaches and the Federation: “We need a reckoning, speed has screwed up the preparation”, he said with a certain arrogance, immediately noticed by his coach Claudio Rossetto: "Filippo speaks a little too hotly, I have no regrets". King Pippo then made a partial about-face via Twitter, but the clarification again sounded like a discharge of responsibility, which obviously belongs to everyone, but one would expect greater balance from a captain: “Unfortunately, I only said: we were all wrong, I, claudio the trainer, and physio for the national team. When you lose you have to unite to start again”Magnini tweeted.
And so no medal has yet arrived from the pools of the Aquatic Center in London, not even from Fabio Scozzoli who was also the favorite of the 100m breaststroke. And even less from the relays, so far absolutely unpresentable. If we think that Italy expected the greatest number of successes from swimming (and fencing), there is something to worry about for the second week of the Games, when these two sports will give way to great athletics, in which the chances of a blue medal are not far from zero.
We just have to hope for the next fencing competitions, which will surely bring more medals, and in the so-called "minor" sports, but that never as in this Olympics will they become decisive in making the blue booty more dignified.
