For the Second Time in a Row, a Bocconi Alumna Is Preparing for the Olympics

ON AUGUST 19, ALL OF THE BOCCONI COMMUNITY AND THE REST OF ITALY WILL BE ROOTING FOR RACEWALKER ELEONORA GIORGI

Eleonora Giorgi looks so cool and relaxed after a 20-km training session under the scorching sun (and another one awaits her in the afternoon) that one could wonder whether she is really on the eve of the most important sporting event of her career, the Rio Olympic Games which will open in August. The young athlete exudes confidence and positive energy about participating in the global sporting event by definition. She looks forward to joining Brazil's joyful setting, and she hopes to stand out in her walking race. Yes, because Eleonora Giorgi, Milan, 26 years old and Bocconi graduate in Business Administration, is a racewalker for the Fiamme Azzurre sporting team, and holds the Italian record in the 20-kilometer race walk (1h 26' 46", the first woman to go below 1 hour and 27 minutes) and the world record for the 5-kilometer walk, in addition to three Italian championships and seven prizes as best young athlete in her discipline. And Rio de Janeiro won't be her first Olympics, since she already took part in the 2012 London Games, when she was only 22 years old.
 
What are the emotions of the London Olympics that are still with you?
A sense of great joy, a childhood dream come true. I remember that I ran most of the race with goose bumps from excitement and hardly felt fatigue. On the race route there was a lot of people, especially around Buckingham Palace, and you could hear cheering and shouting in all languages, a truly wonderful thing. And the Olympic village was a spectacle in its own right: it was as if by traversing it you were visiting all the nations of the world.
 
In London, you ended up in 14th place and improved your personal record. In Rio, you are currently ranked fourth/ fifth in the world. What are your ambitions this time?
Athletics is the discipline with most countries participating in the Games, and it is very competitive in all specialties. I know there are many expectations heaped on me and I would love to satisfy them. Time does not matter to me; if I end up first, it doesn't matter if it takes 1h 28'' for me to get to the finish line. When making predictions, you also need to consider whether Russia's athletic team will be in Rio or not  (the WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency has just issued a ruling against Russia, note of editors).
 
Racewalking is a very technical, exhausting, almost unnatural discipline, certainly short of spectacular; how did you become passionate about this sport?
As a child I tried all sports and in junior high I was already in love with athletics. Then a nasty tendinitis forced me to seek a discipline that was less traumatic for my ankles, so I tried racewalking. I didn't like it immediately, but in the training grounds of Mariano Comense I joined a nice team of women racewalkers, and the group got me involved. Racewalking for me means challenging my personal limits. I think and hope I have still room for improvement, as I have not tested them yet to the full.
 
Do you think it takes more talent or work to achieve results in sports?
I'm not a racewalking talent. I have a lot of passion, by in my results there is a lot of work, many exercises for the motility of the hips. To perform at my best I have to train a lot, at least 20 kilometers a day; certain weeks I put in 160 kilometers.  Many racewalkers who are more talented than me need to train less, I am somehow doomed to work out a lot because if do not train, I won't go anywhere.
 
Do you have a mental coach who helps you deal with the psychological strain of training and competing?
No, until now I've never felt the need. I am very rational, so I face sports competitions as if they were university exams. During the race, my mind races, too! When morale seems to drop I try to imagine my loved ones who encourage me and spur me on. Sometimes I also summon in my head skeptics so that I can prove them wrong... I must say training sometimes wears me down, especially during the winter, when I have to walk many kilometers at a slower pace. In those times I find it harder to stay focused with respect to when I am working on speed.
 
Disciplines that require greatest physical effort are invariably the most exposed to the temptations of doping. What do you think about the doping scandals that often surround athletes, even in your event?
I do not feel I have the right to judge anyone as a person. Sports offers everyone a second chance, and perhaps rightly so. Certainly I was struck when the suspension touched racewalking athletes. Today, however, with the biological passport there is little chance to get away with doping, although there are still many test tubes from Beijing that need to be tested... Having said that, respecting doping controls is an important part of our activity and in everyday life this requires some attention, because you must always make yourself available an hour per day to doping monitors, so you constantly have to think when to put this time window and communicate variations if your daily schedule changes...
 
Another variable of racewalking is the subjective opinion of race judges, who may interrupt the triumphal march of an athlete any time they detect an infringement of the one-foot-on-the-ground rule. Is it difficult to accept these interventions while, maybe, you have already been victorious or on a podium?
I'm almost always positive, I am not frustrated by defeats and always try to look ahead. Certainly, when disqualification hits you, it makes you very angry. Then you often watch the replay and you are forced to admit you made an error. However, it must be said that when it comes to racewalking, technology has not brought clarity. One of the basic rules, for example, says that the human eye should never perceive a suspension of both lower limbs from the ground. Therefore replays should be watched at normal speeds, because with slow motion we would be all disqualified, since no racewalker would appear exempt from infringement. However, as a soccer coach once said, there is a penalty kick only when the referee blows the whistle.
 
In Rio there will also be your boyfriend, Matteo Giupponi, also a racewalker, who will compete in the men's 50-kilometer race. Will you guys be able to take a vacation this summer?
I'm afraid not... I'll go to Rio ten days before the race, just to get used to the 5-hour time difference and try a couple of times the raceawalking path, which will be by the sea coast and is expected to be very windy, a weather condition you seldom find here in Italy. The Italian Athletics Federation has advised against training alone in Rio, so I'll have to respect the  group's schedule. Matteo will get there before me, then he'll have to get back. In short, I do not yet know what our programs are, to be honest.
 
You have already thought about your look during the race? The braids you wore in London became trendy in Italy and also brought you good luck.
For superstitious reasons, I will paint my nails blue and put a flower in my hair for the competition. In London there was an Afro-style hairdresser in the Olympic village who did braids to pretty much everybody... Let's see what the style will be in Rio. But to tame my curly hair won't be easy for anyone!

by Lorenzo Martini
Translated by Alex Foti