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The champion of the short track has yet to file some aspects with the FISG, after the optimism filtered in the last few weeks. Her words.
Monday 25 April 2022 4 minutes reading time
Arianna Fontana towards her sixth Olympics, her second at home after Turin 2006?
It is not certain that it will be like this, the Valtellina champion who, at the Beijing 2022 Games, rose to 11 Olympic medals and would like to increase an already historic loot in Milan-Cortina 2026, for the great finale of a legendary career.
The frictions with the federation (and with part of the environment) chaired by Andrea Gios, newly re-elected number 1 of the FISG, are known even if in recent weeks a "thaw" has been attempted and optimism has filtered on an agreement that could lead Fontana to face another four-year period with five circles. Yet, the two Olympic 500 meters champion explains: “In the last few days I have received many messages: messages of joy, of encouragement from excited people, because in various newspapers the headline read“ Arianna Fontana will go to Milan-Cortina 2026 ”.
While this makes me really happy, and I thank everyone for the support, it's inaccurate. I have NOT announced that I will participate in the next Olympic Winter Games. In the first meeting on 5 April I expressed the desire to continue for another 4 years and the Federation and CONI expressed their willingness to support me until 2026: this was the first step. We all needed to clarify and start constructively.
There will be another meeting on Wednesday where we will discuss the current environment, how to better protect athletes and whether or not there will be a winning environment in the future. The devil is, and always has been, in the details. We must have everything clear so that each of us can concentrate on their own path and work efficiently towards Milan-Cortina: 48 months seems a long time but there is no time to waste. We are already down to 41 months before qualifying for the Olympics. Delaying and procrastinating doesn't help, time just keeps ticking.
I'm sorry to have to explain everything in such detail in this post, but it's important to be clear and not create false expectations. Nothing has been agreed; until we define the details, I will continue to dream of Milan-Cortina. As I said before, if I'm on the starting line it's because I think I can win. If I'm not there, well, you know why ...
I don't participate just to participate. Simple. No matter what, always come on Italy ... and on this day even more ”.
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