Hours of training in the gym on that platform chasing a dream.

Then, in a split second, darkness.

Only willpower and tenacity changed the ending of the story for

Greta Riccardi, a 19-year-old gymnast from Pavia who was hit by a truck four years ago while crossing the street

.

After leaving the intensive care unit and spending months in rehabilitation, the young champion has returned to spinning as before and piloting her team in Serie B.

For Greta, rhythm is life.

He trains between 4 and 5 hours a day, five days a week, and on Sundays he has competitions.

From the age of 9, clubs, ribbons, hoops and balls have always been in his room.

A promise of gymnastics who, thanks to passion, managed to overcome the consequences of the dramatic accident of November 17, 2017. He was 15 years old.

"I was going to the Copernico school, in the center of Pavia, I was in the crosswalk and I had my bicycle in my hand: a truck ran over me. I never lost consciousness. They

crushed me under the wheels when the emergency services tried to free me,

" he says. .

She was admitted to intensive care at the San Matteo hospital and underwent a 9-hour surgery: she had a broken pelvis and fractures in her right leg.

The knee and foot were shattered.

Only a miracle could have made her compete again.

The gymnast was transferred to the Niguarda in Milan in a hyperbaric chamber to avoid the risk of infections and help the tissues to regenerate.

Greta stayed there for five months.

Always the same goal in mind: to return to gymnastics, to competition, to their apparatus.

Pain

"The pain was a lot, I felt like blows that started from the hip to the foot.

But I never gave up

. The discipline and rigor that I have always put into sports have also accompanied me during my rehabilitation. I did physical therapy twice a day with an extraordinary team that helped me overcome really difficult moments, "he says.

No one was unbalanced in her full recovery, but the technical director Elena Aliprandi, who caught up with her in the hospital during her stay, wanted her at the Desio Academy where she was followed by a team of physiotherapists and an osteopath. "

I saw the other athletes train, on a psychological level it was a salvation, because I returned to my world.

After a year of work I was ready and coordinated my movements, I returned to doing splits and turns. I got on the platform and everyone was on the The stands supported me, without rivalry or fans, they hugged me with long applause ".

Now that she has returned to being the captain of Pavese Gimnasia and has dragged the team to Serie B, it would be time to enjoy a well-deserved rest before the restart scheduled for mid-September.

Except that

she is already focused on a new objective

: "I was in Fuerteventura for a week, but now I have to put myself on the books: I want to pass the entrance exam to the physiotherapy faculty. My dream is to help other people in difficulty, which was decisive for me. "

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • HBPR

  • sports

Eurocup Luis Enrique-Tassotti: an elbow to innocence but without the intention of revenge

The Oyarzabal jump: precision recovered on penalties, that shared flat and a 47 standing

Motorcycling Dani Pedrosa, the untitled MotoGP champion: "Do all the great researchers have a Nobel?"

See links of interest

  • Last News

  • Tokyo 2021

  • 2021 business calendar

  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Master investigative journalism