Olympic Games 2021: the beautiful story of Italian champion Fausto Desalu and his Nigerian mother
Eseosa Desalu, during his coronation as a 4x100 team.
AP - Aleksandra Szmigiel
Text by: Anne Le Nir Follow
5 mins
Italy surpassed all its records by winning 40 medals, including 10 gold, at the Tokyo Olympics.
The country is obviously happy with the performances of these athletes who embody hope, courage and national pride.
But Italy has also been very touched by stories that are particularly heartwarming.
Among them, that of Eseosa Fostine Desalu (“Fausto” in Italy), one of the Olympic champions in the 4x100 meter relay.
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From our correspondent in Rome,
The moving story of 27-year-old Fausto Desalu is intrinsically linked to that of his mother Veronica.
Originally from a village in Nigeria, she arrived in 1991 in the province of Cremona, Italy, with her husband, also Nigerian.
But he abandoned her soon after the birth of their son.
At 50, this woman with a beautiful face, all round and smooth, is a home help during the day and babysits an elderly person at night.
A life of sacrifice to bring up his son with dignity, to enable him to study and train to run.
Mamma Veronica did everything for Fausto.
In particular, she harvested tomatoes, a tiring job often reserved for African migrants.
Became Italian after turning 18
“
Living in a foreign country is always difficult for immigrants,
” Veronica told the daily
La Stampa
. “
That's why I instilled in my son a sense of duty and respect for others. These are the basics of integration.
»Veronica also says that she taught Fausto not to spoil anything. His words suggest the very modest conditions in which he grew up: “
You only buy new shoes and new clothes when the others are unusable.
"
The penetrating gaze, assures him never to have lacked anything.
From the age of 12, he cherished a dream that has finally come true: “
To stand on a podium, shed tears of joy and sing loudly the national anthem
Fratelli d'Italia
.
However, Fausto did not obtain Italian nationality until the age of 18.
Italy has not yet established the "
jus soli ”.
The bill is blocked for lack of sufficient support in Parliament.
To date, children born in Italy to foreign parents can only apply for Italian citizenship when they are of legal age and provided they have resided permanently in the country from birth.
But Fausto made a point of it: “
You have to live with the laws that exist, as my mother taught me.
But for a child born in Italy, it is painful to be put on hold,
”he told
Corriere della Sera
.
Either way, nothing will take away his immense feeling of happiness.
Her mother will be able to rest in Nigeria
Like the nine other Italian gold medalists at the Tokyo Olympics, he will receive 180,000 euros from the state.
He promises to finally reward his mother for all the efforts she has made for him.
As for Veronica, she hopes to return to Nigeria to reunite with her eldest daughter and rest, after years of hard work.
But she will wait until her Olympic champion has started her own family in Italy.
Who knows if this deeply human story will relaunch the debate on the right to land in Italy and allow us to have another look at people of color, the most discriminated against in the country by anti-migrants.
► See also: Relive the handover ceremony between Tokyo and Paris
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