Menarini, ‘The XXVI International Fair Play Award’ debuts in Florence

Everything is ready for the debut of the XXVI Menarini International Fair Play Award. On Tuesday 5 July, the kermesse on the great values ​​of sport organized by the Fair Play Menarini Foundation inaugurates the program of the 2022 edition with the talk show “The champions tell themselves”. The Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio, in Florence, welcomes in its magnificent rooms some of the sporting legends selected this year to receive the recognition destined for talented and ethical models. An event dedicated to sharing and quality entertainment, which will be broadcast live on Rtv38 (digital terrestrial channel 10 and streaming on the Play38 Facebook page), from 9.20 pm. “We are really happy and honored to bring a representation of our 2022 winners to Florence” says Ennio Troiano, Board member of the Menarini Fair Play Foundation. “We trust that live TV will allow us to widen the audience of fans of this wonderful award as much as possible. Our invitation to watch is aimed above all at the youngest, who through the ‘Champions tell themselves’ format will be able to find sport models and of life from which to take inspiration on their journey towards adulthood “adds Troiano. It is the first time that the Menarini International Fair Play Award brings this appointment to Florence, which has always been one of the most loved moments by the public of the event. A choice with which the Foundation wanted to put pen to paper its particular link with the city where the headquarters of the Menarini Group is based. “We are proud to host sports champions in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence” says the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, who will be present at the evening. Nardella underlines that “for an event that perhaps celebrates the founding principle of sport itself, that fair play, that respect for the other, which should be the basis of every discipline and also of every area of ​​life. A heartfelt thanks goes to Menarini, Florentine company of absolute national and international excellence, which was the first to believe in and launched this project, born over 25 years ago, and which today continues its path of entrepreneurship deeply linked to society and also to the city in which it has been present for more than a century”. There are also the super champions Federica Pellegrini and Tania Cagnotto in the long list of ‘medals’ of the XXVI International Fair Play Menarini Award which debuts tomorrow in Florence. The two Italian icon champions won, respectively, the prize for the “Myth Character” Category – Sustenium Energy and Heart and the award for the “A smile for life” category. During “The champions tell themselves”, the guests who go up on stage bring with them their extraordinary stories, made up of enormous successes and testimonies of the noblest principles of sport. This is the case of Marcelo Bielsa, the football manager who made history for his unforgettable gesture of fair play made in April 2019. The order to let Aston Villa score after the goal of the advantage scored by his players of the Leeds with an opponent on the ground cost the team a nuanced promotion to the Premier League, but consecrated “El Loco” Bielsa in the pantheon of giants of sporting fairness. Casey Stoner and Ian Thorpe also take part in the talk show by Fair Play Menarini. With them Australia shows off the winner of the two MotoGP bikes 2007 and 2011 and an authentic swimming monster, used to spoiling his fans with incredible records in the World Championships and Olympics pools. Here are the categories and the winners: for the Category “Fair Play career” to win the award is Roberto Donadoni; “Fair Play” category goes to Massimo Ambrosini; Category “Sport beyond sport” to Giacomo Bertagnolli and Andrea Ravelli; Category “The Gesture” Marcelo Bielsa; Category “Sport and life” Casey Stoner; Category “A life for sport” Marco Bracci; Category “Myth Character” Ian Thorpe. Category “Myth character” – Sustenium Energy and Heart to Federica Pellegrini; for the “Model for young people” category, the Paolo Rossi Special Prize was awarded to Fabrizio Ravanelli; for the category “The social values ​​of sport” the award went to Vito Dell’Aquila; Category “Sport promotion” to Alessandra Perilli; Category “A smile for life” to Tania Cagnoto; Category “The educational values ​​of sport” to Stefania Constantini; Category “Narrating emotions” the Franco Lauro Special Prize was awarded to Giorgio Porrà; finally, for the “Study and Sport” category, the Special Yellow Flames Award was assigned to Beatrice Coradeschi. (by Andreana d’Aquino)