After the successes in athletics and swimming of Battocletti and Curtis, the debate explodes on the ideological use of champions to cover up social failures.
Excuse the question: but, by chance, Novella Calligaris did he have a Moroccan mother? AND Pietro Mennea was he the son of a Tunisian? AND Sara Simeoni was she born in Nigeria? I ask myself this because, after Italy’s latest bout of medals at the European athletics and swimming championships, it seems that what won, on the track and in the pool, was not talent, but multi-ethnicity. In fact, we were invaded by ecstatic comments, all dedicated to extolling the “new Italians”, the “second generation foreigners”, the “great model of inclusiveness”, all committed to highlighting the Moroccan mother of Nadia Battoclettithe champion of the cross country, and the Nigerian one of Sara Curtisthe new swimming star. Of course, the very Italian also won Gianmarco Tamberi“but be careful not to forget Marcel Jacobs” who didn’t win at all, but he is the son of an African American and therefore is “a very sweet man” to be proud of. Even when he leaves the medal to someone else.
The purpose of so much multi-ethnic molasses is clear: integration has failed, the countries that most proclaimed open doors (from Denmark to Sweden) are closing them, the countries that have focused most on multiculturalism (from France to Great Britain) find themselves facing enormous problems, it seems clear to everyone that the safety of citizens is put at risk by immigration (in Italy one robbery in two is carried out by foreigners), not to mention gangmastering and exploitation of illegal work, while the images of Ceuta they give a clear idea of what the invasion means. So what can we do? Obviously: let’s cover all this with a nice shower of medals with a flavor of inclusiveness, new Italians and second generations. In order to tell the sciura Maria, that yes it’s true, she risks being attacked every day by maranzas on the street corner, but she can console herself: the hero of the Italian 4×400 is called Moahmed Soudassi and is of Moroccan origin. Isn’t that enough for you to handle the next mugging?
The double standard of storytelling and forgotten crimes
Think about it: every time there is a crime, a theft or a murder, mainstream information tends to hide the nationality of those responsible. It doesn’t have to be said. It’s not good to say it. To find out that the four boys who killed poor Nicola a Pinarella of Cervia they were of Moroccan origin, it was necessary to completely ignore the main Italian newspapers, which were careful not to report the news. On the other hand, the same newspapers immediately went into endless articles to indicate the foreign origin of the swimming and athletics medalists: Fausto Desalubronze in the 200 meters, is of Nigerian origin; Alexandrina Mihai, silver in the race walk, was born in Moldova; Dariya Derkach, triple gold medalist, was born in Ukraine; Sara Curtis, six medalists in swimming, has a Nigerian mother; Andy Diaz, triple gold medalist, is originally from Cuba; Zane Weir, silver in the shot put, is from South Africa…
The comparison between disciplines: from the flop of football to the domination of tennis
But isn’t the use of these champions to do a bit of propaganda in favor of welcoming people unbearable? Isn’t it unbearable to transform sports medals into patches over the holes of an integration that is leaking from all sides? Italy does not excel in swimming and athletics because there are multi-ethnic athletes. In fact, it also triumphed in the times of Novella Calligaris or Pietro Mennea or Sara Simeoni, because what matters is not the nationality of the mother, but the talent (and the desire to sacrifice) of the athlete. The proof is that even in football, where multi-ethnic athletes from Balotelli onwards have multiplied, where we have fielded centre-forwards who have become Italian without even knowing our language (Retegui), then relying on the various Moise Kean, Willy Gnonto and Destiny Udogie, we are pitiful. And, on the contrary, in tennis we shine with Jannick SinnerFlavio Cobolli, Matteo Arnaldi, Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti, none of whom appear to have parents who landed from the Ivory Coast.
The value of sporting commitment beyond ideology
Clear, right? You don’t win because you are new Italians: you win because you are good and tenacious Italians. You don’t win because of the “model of inclusiveness”: you win because of talent. And talent, yesterday as today, does not look at the color of the skin, the origins of the family, the rhetoric on multiculturalism and multiethnicity, the “wealth of other cultures that are now part of ours”. Talent does not face the rivers of rhetoric, the immigrationist molasses, it does not even look in the face of the newspaper columnists who try to use sports champions to make us forget the horror of Ceuta. Talent is pure and clear and the best way to celebrate it would be to recognize it for what it is, without exploiting it, without forcing it, without bending it to an immigrationist plan which unfortunately, unlike swimming and athletics, does not bring us any gold or silver. At most a few bronze faces.
