The President of the Republic arrived in Cortina and after the meeting with Sofia he called Arianna Fontana to congratulate her. Tomorrow she will attend the Super G at Tofane. Voetter and Oberhofer win both heats, the last victory at Torimo in 2006 by Zoegeller
Italy’s third gold at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics comes from the new Eugenio Monti bobsleigh track with Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer in the women’s luge doubles. An unquestionable success given that the Italians won both heats. Leading after the first heat, they accelerated in the second, and took the lead from 22 to 120 thousandths with a perfect race. It is the second luge medal at these Games and Italy returns gold 20 years after the triumph in Turin of Zoeggeler, now technical director.
Mattarella between Goggia and Fontana
Before the victory of the luge girls, the afternoon in Cortina was marked by the arrival of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella with exceptional security measures. At the Navy Officers’ Club the president met Sofia Goggia for about half an hour: “You won three medals in three Olympics, well done.” Then he added: “Tomorrow I will attend the race. You are collecting a large quantity of medals, we have a good team. We should make the fans and viewers understand what is behind your preparation”. And to Coni president Buonfiglio: “You are giving an image of vitality and organisation”. Mattarella also inquired about Lindsey Vonn’s condition, commenting: “It was an act of courage.” Then the president wanted to call Arianna Fontana on the phone via Coni communications director Danilo Di Tommaso and her husband answered the phone. Arianna was training and immediately ran to talk to Mattarella: “Congratulations, six Olympics, six successes! It was a formidable race, obviously congratulations to the others too, you are a formidable team. For those who watch that formula on TV, for those who don’t understand it, it’s difficult to understand how it happens, and calm must be fundamental.” And she: “We managed to maintain calm and that was the winning formula. The mixed relay is very short and fast, I understand that it may not be so intuitive the first time you watch it, but we kept calm and managed to bring home a gold which is worth a lot.”
