Who is Manila Esposito, the 17-year-old beam bronze medalist?

She was born in 2006 in Boscotrecase, a town in Campania on the slopes of Vesuvius, in Campania and from the volcano she carries within her an indomitable fire that today, at only 17 years old, has led her to the Olympic podium, with a bronze medal conquered around the neck in the beam specialty.

As Manila Esposito She was catapulted in an instant into the Olympus of athletes, a protagonist, with Alice D'Amato gold medal, of one of those historic, indelible and memorable moments that Italian sport will remember forever: Two Italian artistic gymnasts on the podium in the same specialty at the Olympic Games.

She is the youngest of Team Italia in Paris. For two years, she has been training, like D'Amato, on the beam apparatus with Monica Bergamelli at the International Academy of Brescia directed by Enrico Casella, technical director of the Italian national team and former coach of Vanessa Ferrari, silver on the floor. to exercise three years ago in Tokyo.

This year she won four gold medals at the European Championships in Rimini, she was perfect in her execution (8,200), while the difficulty was 5,800, the same as her compatriot. Manila has been training in Brescia for two years.

“I left before climbing onto the beam which I had nothing to lose, but only to win, so I did the exercise as best I could,” he said after winning the Olympic bronze medal.

“There was a great silence during the exercise – he continued -. It put more tension, but then it was nice to hear the disorder at the end”. To the regret of not having won the silver, he concluded: “I could have done better, I have done better exercises in my career, but I did my best and it does not matter.”

Champion thanks to her mother

The first to notice her athletic abilities was her mother Margherita. At the age of four, she began to master her body perfectly and immediately realized that gymnastics would be her life. She grew up in Civitavecchia but is very attached to her native land, Campania.

A dynamic, explosive and indomitable girl, she stood out from a young age with her refined movements and limitless talent.

Her list of achievements includes the two European silver medals won in 2022 in Turkey in the team all-around and on the beam respectively. The following year, she was one of the five participants at the World Championships in Antwerp, where, together with her teammates, she guaranteed Italy a national place for Paris 2024. Three months before the Games, she won the European all-around in Rimini, the best way to approach the Olympic Games.