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The house of Italy in Tokyo is overwhelming, the two ground floors of the Takanagawa Prince Hotel, for their elegance, with all the staff dressed as Emporio Armani, for their comforts, with a long menu of

rigatoni

and

ossobuco

, and for their very existence, as many countries - such as Spain - dispensed with this type of center at the Games. Italy came to win, it came to triumph and it shows. Today, back home, they are celebrating 40 medals -10 gold, 10 silver and 20 bronzes-, their historical record above the 36 they achieved in Los Angeles 32 and in Rome 1960. It is not necessary to remember that they are more than double than the ones that Spain hung up on, you just have to go and talk to them and ask: Where is the trick?

"It is a mixture of a long tradition in various sports and an ambitious project that we have been carrying out in recent years. At the Rio 2016 Games we ended up with 28 medals, the same that we had achieved in London 2012 and almost the same as in Beijing 2008. We accepted that we were stuck in our elite sport and started a program that is based on reinvigorating our three High Performance Centers, one in the north of the country, one in Rome and the other in the south, through the method scientist and what the English call

marginal gains

", explains to EL MUNDO

Carlo Mornati

, Italian team leader in Tokyo and Olympic rowing runner-up in Sydney 2000. While he speaks, classical music and the RAI narratives play in the background which, on the big screens downstairs, continue to repeat the successes of recent days .

Five golds in athletics and one in rowing, cycling, taekwondo, sailing and karate without having to descend on the medal table, where there are podiums also in fencing, swimming, Olympic shooting, archery, gymnastics, canoeing, judo, weightlifting, boxing and fight. The United Kingdom or the Netherlands finished ahead of Italy in the medal table, but they do not have as much variety in their achievements. "We did not want to follow the model set by the United Kingdom in London 2012 because our sport was already very rich in disciplines. Our idea was always to offer more means to everyone so that the more the better they can take advantage of", analyzes Mornati, who points out that the The failure of their teams, without semifinalists for the first time since Mexico 1968, is due to this: "The players are with their clubs, some abroad,and it is much more difficult to work with them in the medium and long term. "

"The pandemic has benefited us"

"The results of Italy are very good, but from my point of view they can be improved. There are disciplines in which we have a lot of tradition and in which we could have won more. In fencing, swimming or canoeing we have not achieved any gold, it is note that there are countries that have overtaken us ", analyzes

Massimiliano Rosolino

, the best swimmer in the history of Italy, with four medals between Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.

Commentator for Eurosport in these Games, he assumes certain criticisms and avoids comparisons with Spain.

"You really like team sports. Either everyone wins or nobody wins," he says.

"Speaking with colleagues from other countries, I think that, in some way, the pandemic has benefited us. Our Olympians had a few weeks off, but then a plan was approved by which they could train despite confinement and I think that has been noticed in some disciplines, such as athletics, "says Rosolino, staying at the nearby Shinagawa Prince Hotel where he runs every day through the parking lot to avoid the eternal quarantine imposed by Japan on journalists.

Jacobs, winner of the 100-meter dash finish AFPAFP

Rosolino was and is a

carabiniere

and it is not an anecdote in his country, as is the case of

Saúl Craviotto

, an agent of the National Police: the former swimmer belongs to the Italian security forces like 75% of the country's Olympians.

The Ministry of Defense financially supports elite sport in Italy, allows the majority of those classified to be 100% professional and also offers them a future: when they retire they can continue working.

Going for another record in Beijing 2022

"For us it is very important precisely for that reason. Not only athletes can focus on training, something that also happens in other countries through scholarships, they also have a job secured at the end of their sports lives", acknowledges Mornati, also an agent, that does not hide the data. Of the 384 Italians in Tokyo, 269 belong to some body between the military, national police, Customs agents and prison guards.

It is the sustenance of a delegation that closed its stay in Japan thinking about the very close Winter Games of Beijing 2022, where they will also try to surpass their record: the 20 medals of the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Italy is already surprised by Marcell Jacobs in the 100 meters, the kick of

Luigi Busà

in karate, the show of

Vanesa Ferrari

in her floor exercise, the hug of

Gianmarco Tamberi

with

Mutaz Barshim

when sharing gold in the high jump, the victory of her mixed Nacra in sailing, the vertigo of

Filippo Ganna

and the track cycling team in pursuit, the emotion of swimmer

Gregorio Paltrinieri

in the pool and in the open water and so on, medals and more medals and more medals.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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