TOKYO (AP) – The first clue that this would be Italy’s year came when Italian band Maneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest in May.
Then the incredible path of the Azzurri to the Euro title between June and July.
The icing on the cake came on the first day of August, when Marcell Jacobs won the 100 meters at the Tokyo Olympics to take over from Usain Bolt as the fastest man in the world.
And who was the first to hug Jacobs as he crossed the finish line with a career-high 9.80 seconds on Sunday? Gianmarco Tamberi, the high jumper who had just won gold in his event after drawing with Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim.
The president of the Italian Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò, described the day as “the greatest day in the history of Italian sport.”
“We achieved something epic and extraordinary – just like success in soccer – and that is bringing the country together,” Malagò said. “We’ve had some epic victories, like winning the World Cup (four times), but in (Olympic) terms, this is something our grandchildren’s grandchildren will one day read in the history books.”
The success offered a necessary respite to a country that has spent much of the past 16 months in varying levels of confinement. Italy was the first country outside of Asia to be hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and it suffered deeply. Especially in 2020, when hospitals in northern Italy were overwhelmed by the number of patients and the death toll skyrocketed. Italy has registered more than 128,000 deaths from coronavirus, the worst figure among the 27 nations of the European Union.
Malagò spoke at length about how he got personally involved to ensure athletes like Tamberi and Jacobs could continue their training during quarantines.
The pressure was enormous for an athletics team that did not win a single medal at Rio 2016.
“And now we have the fastest man in the world and the man who jumps the highest,” said the manager. “Marcello and ‘Jimbo’ made all Italians proud. Words don’t do them justice. “
With a week to go, Italy already has 26 medals in Tokyo in all disciplines, only two less than those obtained five years ago.
To an American father and an Italian mother, Jacobs was born in Texas. His parents separated when he was just 6 months old. He moved to Italy with his mother and did not know his father, with whom he reconnected about a year ago by phone, when he tried to learn about his origins.
Vivian Masini, Jacobs’ mother, watched her son’s competition from her home in the northern Italian town of Manerba del Garda.
“I spoke to him between the heats and the semi-final, and again before the final,” Masini told Sky Italia. “They were giving him a massage to free himself before the final. He wanted to have fun and he said, ‘Mom, don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.’
“Marcell is really a very nice guy, humble, even if he sometimes wants to hide it behind his tattoos and his (crazy) demeanor,” she added. “But he is a very focused person.”