On the wings of happiness is the Italian women’s volleyball team

Italian volleyball is celebrating. And with full merit. To the appointment at the Quirinale with President Mattarella and the other sports disciplines, volleyball added a piece to a day that in itself is among those to be circled in the calendar of sporting life among those ‘to remember’. Because an Olympic gold medal doesn’t come so easily, in fact it had never arrived until August 11th.

So Fipav ‘called together’ its world of clubs, technicians, sports managers and sponsors. The 13 players of the Italian team were beaming, as was President Manfredi, who said: “It’s not easy to be clear-headed after being received at the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. Today is our day; I think it’s the right day to say thanks to these splendid athletes for the journey made in Paris, to the staff, to Julio Velasco and to all those who contributed to this historic success”.

“I was the first to receive compliments from President Mattarella for this fantastic Olympic gold; as soon as the last ball fell my cell phone rang and these were his words: ‘go to Velasco and all the athletes and tell them Congratulations due'”, said Malagò instead. He looks to the future against coach Velasco: “We know that confirming ourselves will be difficult, but this group is special and extraordinary and even if I have already done it several times, I want to take advantage of this moment to thank the staff again; practically a team that he managed another team.” Finally, Paola Egonu beamed: “Today I saw these images five times and every time I cried. I have little to say other than that I really want to thank everyone for putting us in the best possible position to achieve this extraordinary result.”