“A miracle, that cannot be explained.
You just have to be happy, ”said Filippo Tortu, last runner of the Italian sprint relay after the surprising Olympic victory.
“We beat England on penalties in the Euro final.
And now we defeat them with a hundredth.
This is really not her year.
But ours. "
Michael Reinsch
Correspondent for sports in Berlin.
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Five medals, five gold medals - you can hear it: the Italian athletes are, after the American ones (7 gold / 12 silver / 7 bronze medals), the most successful of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
No result was as spectacular as the double strike in the sprint: First the Roman Marcell Jacobs out of the blue wins the gold medal over a hundred meters with a European record, then he, together with Tortu, Lorenzo Patta and Eseosa Desalu, has the next coup in 37.50 seconds .
Together with the successes of Gianmarco Tamberi in high jump, walker Antonella Palmisano and walker Massimo Stano, this results in a result that does not have to fear comparison with football.
The victories are astonishing.
Annett Stein, head coach of the German association, saw Tamberi on a level with European champion Mateusz Przybylko from Leverkusen.
In the fact that he is now flying high after a long injury and corona illness, she also sees question marks.
“The sprinters are also very conspicuous,” she says: “We have to withdraw first to evaluate.
We are very impressed. "
Meanwhile, the Times reports on Jacobs' connection with a bodybuilder by the name of Giacomo Spazzini, who boasts on the Internet that he has taken care of the sprinter's performance through nutritional advice and mental coaching.
The police have been investigating Spazzini since 2019 for various offenses, including the delivery of doping substances and the illegal use of steroids and growth hormones. The prosecutor has not yet decided whether to bring charges. Jacobs agent Marcello Magnani announced upon request that Jacobs ended his professional association with Spazzini in March 2021.