Tokyo 2020, foil coach replies to Di Francisca: “disgusting turnaround”

“I am aware of the work to be done and I certainly do not hide behind a finger but I do not digest the gratuitous malice and rudeness. Whoever wins celebrates and whoever loses learns. I have no desire to censor the criticisms that are leveled at me, provided they are constructive and not limited to unprecedented verbal violence and heavy and gratuitous insults that arise from hatred, personal dislikes and feuds of opposing factions “. It is the response of the coach of the blue foil Andrea Cipressa to the former champion Elisa Di Francisca, who in recent days has harshly criticized him for his choices. “I am ready for confrontation and a mea culpa if necessary but I do not accept ‘disgusting’ turnarounds from those who, until recently, hailed me with messages of esteem, appreciation and affection. his role as ‘columnist’ spits poison into the dish he ate, also diminishing the value of athletes who, even if not what they hoped for, have obtained an Olympic result worthy of respect, it is absolutely not veiled, on the contrary “. Read also “I thank Velasco for having expressed in a clear and explicit way a thought that many, fortunately, share. I do not look for justifications for victories or defeats by both, you learn and build. Sometimes, however, keeping silent is of undisputed refinement” , continued Cipressa on Facebook. “If a man does his best, what more could you want? It happens that, even when you have worked hard and taken care of every detail, things do not go as you had dreamed – continues the Italian fencing coach. – Whoever competes to win knows that defeat is part of the game. Even the hottest. I live for sport and for sport and this has always made me experience incredible emotions: from extraordinary victories (do you still remember them?) That nourish the soul to heavy disappointments from which you think you can never recover. Instead you recover all right and I say it because I have lived it on my skin. It hurts and burns but, in the calendar of my mind the cruelest falls are still cornerstones of my growth as a sportsman and as a person. “” When you think of a champion or a successful person, you generally think of his medals, his epic victories, but you hardly think of defeats and disappointments or sometimes in which he felt overwhelmed and thought about giving up. Falling is the risk of learning to walk. It is important to keep your trust and try again. I have always thought that defeat in a race, while painful, is not a defeat in life. Regardless of the extent of the defeat, you do not lose your value, I say this to all those who attack me personally because their expectations have not been completely met “, concluded Cipressa.