“The long-distance swimmers don’t want to compete in the polluted Seine” –

Pietro De Leo

August 5, 2024

Late afternoon yesterday. As soon as the 1500 freestyle race was over, where the Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri won silver, telephoned Paolo Barelli, Forza Italia group leader in the Chamber and President of the Italian Swimming Federation, to understand something more about these Olympics so marked by controversy and clashes on various levels, from the organizational to the political. In fact, Barelli answered the phone from Paris.

So Mr. President, we are halfway through this Olympics. How are things going?
“As for the disciplines of the Swimming Federation we are very satisfied. For now we have 2 golds, 2 bronzes and the silver just arrived with Paltrinieri, but the accounts are done at the end. Every nation comes here to win and does not give anything away, especially in this edition, much more competitive than the one in Tokyo which was affected by the Covid epidemic”.

We took the liberty of starting by talking about sports. Because these Olympics seem to be more focused on controversy, on an organizational, cultural, political level. You, who have experienced several Games, as a manager and first as an athlete, do you remember a situation like this?
“In our disciplines, the only real controversy concerns long-distance swimming that would go into the Seine, but the swimmers disagree: there are difficult conditions because of the current, and then the quality of the water is variable even from a health point of view. It is not a small issue, because we must always remember that we are here for the athletes. For the rest, the Olympics are a global event, a media spectacle and therefore it is clear that exaggerations, scoops, clashes arise”.

You touched on a relevant aspect, the Seine’s swimmability. However, the organizational criticalities are not limited to this. Let’s think about the photo of Thomas Ceccon sleeping in the Olympic Village park because it’s too hot in his room…
“I reassure everyone: Ceccon, who won the gold, slept in the Olympic Village with the other athletes these days. This photo that is going around very obviously refers only to a moment of pause. I know all the other problems raised by various parties, from the non-varied food in the cafeteria, to the beds that are too short. These are inconveniences that can happen. Just like the controversy over the opening ceremony. I have little to say about this, I am very focused on the sport.”

And how to tackle the issue of the Carini-Khelief match from a sporting perspective? The clash between conservatives and progressives was summed up there.
“Political evaluations lead us astray. We must refer to the rules and science. In fact, science provides the criteria that are used to evaluate whether athletes can compete or not.”

But haven’t these clashes that have taken place put sport on the back burner?
“Seeing it from here, there is great interest in these Olympics. Our disciplines, from swimming to diving to water polo have seen a great influx of enthusiastic spectators and artistic swimming is about to start. The rest belongs to the great media machine that is set in motion and therefore generates other things too.”

Tell the truth, as an Italian politician and as a Roman, have you had any thoughts about the fact that these Olympics could have been hosted in Rome if Virginia Raggi’s administration had not said no to the candidacy at the time?
“The game would have been all to play for to get the Games. But I want to turn your reasoning around. Do you know where the swimming competitions are held here in Paris? In the portion of an arena that can accommodate up to 35 thousand people and where rugby matches are also held. Rome and Italy do not have a structure like that. We are stuck with the facilities of Rome ’60, just think of the Palazzetto dello Sport in EUR, we do not have arenas that can host indoor competitions and shows. Here, the Olympics create the opportunity to have important structures that can also be used for other purposes besides sports: large conventions, large concerts, exhibitions. Something important to leave to future generations.”