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

Italian volleyball is celebrating. And with all due credit. At the Quirinale meeting with President Mattarella and the other sports disciplines, volleyball added a piece to a day that in itself is already among those to be included in the calendar of sporting life among those “to remember”. Because an Olympic gold medal does not come so easily, in fact it had never come before August 11.

Fipav has therefore “brought together” its world of clubs, technicians, sports leaders and sponsors. The 13 players of the Italian team were radiant, as was President Manfredi, who said: “It is not easy to be lucid after being received at the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. Today is our day; I think it is the ideal day to say thank you 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 medal; as soon as the last ball fell, my mobile phone rang and these were his words: 'go see Velasco and all the athletes and tell them congratulations'”, says Malagò instead. He looks to the future in front of coach Velasco: “We know that confirming 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 led another team. Finally, Paola Egonu was beaming: “Today I have seen these images five times and each time I have cried. I don't have much to say except that I really want to thank everyone for putting us in the best possible position to achieve this extraordinary result.”