The goodbye to Cotelli by Paolo De Chiesa: "With Mario it was hard, I never forgave him Garmisch ''78 ... but he was great"

Among the great protagonists of that "Valanga Azzurra" there was the Piedmontese, for years a technical commentator for Rai: here are all his stories.

Wednesday 6 November 2019 7 minutes reading time

Paolo De Chiesa knows all the facets of the national team led by Mario Cotelli, just as he was after that decade in the 1970s, having lived the period that will lead to the rise of Alberto Tomba. After the disappearance of the ex dt blue, we reached by telephone the one who, in his first season in the World Cup (1974/75), had been able to make Ingemar Stenmark tremble too, always touching the success in the maximum circuit (he will close with 12 podiums, of which 4 seconds and 8 third places). "What to say, the first thought goes to the family and to his brother Chicco, to whom I am bound by a very strong friendship - explains De Chiesa - Without Mario we are all a bit more alone, yet up to a couple of weeks he was better after the summer treatment period ". The book of memories starts from that 1974 which, for the very young "Paolino", represented the beginning of a great adventure at the highest levels of skiing, right in the domain of the Blue Avalanche, since four consecutive World Cups had already arrived with Thoeni and Gros. â€œI was 18 and I was called for a test in Livigno with team A; it was October, but there was already a lot of snow and I set Thoeni and Gros in giant. Mario immediately took me to the World Cup, came in 9th place at the beginning of the giant in Val d''IsÃ¨re and that 2nd place of Campiglio ". E 'December 17, 1974 and De Chiesa concludes behind a certain Ingemar Stenmark: yes, because that day the formidable Swedish signed the first of his 86 Cup victories, and then alternated with Piero Gros in two slalom symbol as Wengen and Kitzbuehel, who again saw the native of Saluzzo a splendid third in a first year in the maximum circuit that seemed to be able to guarantee Cotelli an immediate replacement. "Unfortunately, I could no longer make a giant out of my potential due to that famous inguinal problem that caused me a hiss never completely healed - De Chiesa tells us - Other good results came, even without podiums, until that World Cup. Garmisch ''78 which ruined the relations between the two of us ". Failure to call for the world slalom ... "My anger was triggered by the mode. I arrived by car from Brunico with my friend Piero Gros, and a few hours after the most important appointment of the year, I was informed that I would not have received the race number, but the one to do the bulldozer since Cotelli he said he would run Thoeni, who was in trouble at the time. I didn't accept that choice and I was also called a rebel, with the same Mario who threatened not to call me for the next Cup slalom in Chamonix; I went straight on my way, as always, I regularly participated in the race in France and I also returned to the podium, third behind Phil Mahre and Stenmark. What was the best quality of Cotelli, beyond the hardness of the character that has often been reproached to it and which also led to the farewell to the national team in '78? "Mario has always been a character with an incredible charisma, a manager of the highest level and at the same time a father, because he loved us like a child. Over time, he lost some control of the situation because he could not accept that Stenmark would win ... always. Simply, Ingo was too strong, but he couldn't believe it. Even after that '78, the team still had many good athletes in the team, but it is obvious that the comparison with the Blue Avalanche was very difficult: besides myself, there was Edalini, Toetsch, Erlacher, Pramotton ... and that great talent that responded to the name of Leonardo David, who could have dragged everyone to the Tomba era. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Leo's tragic death ". De Chiesa, who then participated in the Olympic Games of Lake Placid 1980 and Sarajevo 1984, remembers how the "fundamental figure alongside Mario, who was a very good supervisor of the team, was that of a very good coach like Oreste Peccedi. We were a real team â€. With Mario Cotelli you then became rivals in ... comment booth. "That's right, I remember the many years he did with Sky and in other television circles, but he came to our Rai cabin many times in recent years. His comments were always interesting, simply because it was a person of extraordinary intelligence. It was a pleasure to listen to him ".

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