Rome (AFP)

Hospitalized since Friday in Siena in a very serious state after a road accident, Alessandro Zanardi already came close to death in 2001 and lived two lives of champion: first as a racing driver, then as a disabled athlete.

The Italian, who lost his two legs in 2001, lost control of his hand bike on a Tuscan road on Friday and crashed into a truck that was coming in the other direction.

He suffered numerous facial fractures and was placed in an artificial coma. Doctors talk about a stable but serious condition and hope to be able to wake him up from this coma this week to start assessing his neurological situation.

These uncertain hours between life and death, Zanardi already experienced them in September 2001 after a terrible accident on the German circuit of the Lausitzring.

After two mixed experiences in Formula 1 (from 1991 to 1994, then a return in 1999, at Williams), the Italian returned to CART, the North American single-seaters championship where he had been twice crowned (1997 and 1998) .

That day, his car, stopped in the middle of the track after a spin, was struck by another racing car launched at more than 300 km / h. The shock, terrifying, tears off his two legs and Zanardi loses a lot of blood.

A chaplain comes to give him the extreme anointing. Her heart stops beating several times and starts again several times. At the Berlin hospital, the Italian is operated 15 times.

- "The half of me that remained" -

"When I woke up, I didn't think about my legs. I thought about the half of me that was left," he said.

Three months after the accident, he made his first public appearance in Bologna, his hometown, during an award ceremony by an automotive magazine. "What an emotion, my legs are trembling," he said then.

This way of looking at the past with lightness to focus on the future accompanied Zanardi's second life, which made him one of the most loved and respected sportsmen in Italy.

After a few years where he continued to drive in adapted cars, Zanardi has indeed become one of the greatest champions in handisport, in hand bikes.

In 2008, for his first participation, he finished 4th in the New York marathon. The following year, he abandoned motor racing to devote himself fully to the preparation of the London Paralympic Games.

He will bring back two gold medals (individual time trial and line race) before two other titles in 2016 in Rio (line race and team relay). In 2010, he also won the Rome marathon and in 2011 that of New York.

For Italy, Zanardi is then a star, "the one who has no legs but runs the marathon", as he presents himself. And for the disabled world, a planetary standard bearer.

- Charisma and courage -

"By his results and his charisma, he changed our perception of disability", wrote on Saturday the Gazzetta dello Sport, one of the three Italian sports newspapers which, after the accident in Siena, all devoted their front page to Zanardi , a real rarity in the land of "calcio".

This charisma, like his smile and his courage, Zanardi put them at the service of his new sport and people with disabilities.

He has written four books, presented television programs and participated in the dubbing in Italian of the series of animated films Cars.

The sportsman, he continues to win by relying on his "five seconds rule". "When you have given everything, go on for five seconds. This is where the others can't do it anymore."

Just a few weeks ago, Zanardi participated with other sportsmen in a television program called "Never give up", to support Italy in full confinement.

Today, all of Italy is asking him in turn not to give up and, once again, to "choose life", as he had promised in 2014.

"It is always possible that lightning strikes me a second time. But to stay at home to avoid it would be to stop living. So no, I choose life."

© 2020 AFP