copravolley

In 2022 was the final Ita- Bra in VNL but that`s a time for Mazzanti in our NT team.

We've secured our first gold medal in men's foil but 4 place in women's épée is a disappointment. This won't be a great World Championship for us, but at least we'll salvage our honor – in my opinion: 6 medals with 2 golds, would be an acceptable result. Women's foil – we need gold here, plus 5 more chances (maybe without sabre women in teams). Maybe the trend will reverse and we'll be at our best at the Olympics, but a bit worse at the World Championships? I hope...

Could you cope a link to this situation? I can't find anything on Instagram.

That's odd, because Estonia has always had a difficult relationship with Russia (probably every country that borders them has difficult relations and conflicts with them, even China once). Unless she is a Russian minority, which I assume exists there?

Women's sabre we never have been particularly strong – perhaps at the very beginning: begining of 2000 years we were strong as a team, but later we lost it. The men also miss some great individual, but even the solid Samele managed to win two individual bronze medals at two consecutive World Championships. However, if he were a great champion, there should have been at least one gold. The overall problem is that the competition in this sport is constantly growing: Iran, Egypt, Tunisia? After all, 20 years ago, they didn't matter at all.

The problem is that we're no longer winning gold medals and we don't have successors to the great champions of yesteryear. Only Favaretto can be excused, as she recently suffered injuries. Errigo has her best years behind her. Don't make me celebrate a few bronze medals in our favourite army... Last year we fired Cerioni, who failed the Olympics, but things were good at the 2022/2023 World Champ. Now even that's bad. I don't know where the problem lies, but perhaps it's deeper than just one coach, because things were bad in Tokyo too.

We don't have any great champions and that's why we get bronze medals or fifth-places. Those are the facts. Womens foil, which has always been our weapon, is hurting the most and now Kiefer is dominating. The men's foli, on the other hand, is very even but we rarely win gold and Marini, our greatest talent, constantly has mistakes in early rounds. If we finish the individual competition with 3 bronze medals, it will be a disaster and another wasted year for us. But of course, this is nothing new because in swimming open water we have Wellbroeck and Johnson, in foil – Kiefer (I'm not at all sure we won't lose to the USA in the team again) and so it goes. Lots of medals, but almost no gold and I still feel unsatisfied.

Non abbiamo più grandi campioni nella scherma: Vezzali vinceva con costanza e ora Kiefer. Abbiamo parecchi buoni atleti, ma quelle tre medaglie di bronzo ai Campionati del Mondo potrebbero non averci nemmeno fatto guadagnare una medaglia alle Olimpiadi. C'è ancora la gare a squadre, e forse arriverà una medaglia d'oro, ma per un Campionato del Mondo è molto scarso. Forse eguaglieremo il risultato delle Olimpiadi di Parigi, dove non ci furono due medaglie per il terzo posto, ma solo una. A mio parere la situazione peggiora ogni ciclo, e quel che è peggio è che non abbiamo più i singoli davvero eccezionali per vincere ori.

Non mi sorprenderebbe la mancanza di medaglie individuali nella scherma: nel fioretto solo Favaretto può fare qualcosa e gli altri hanno poche possibilità.

A mio parere la nostra crisi sportiva è appena iniziata. La scherma peggiora di anno in anno e il nuoto farà fatica anche a vincere una medaglia d'oro questo anno. Queste sono sempre state le nostre discipline migliori. Gli anni 2021-2024 sembrano essere il nostro momento migliore. La concorrenza si fa più agguerrita, la Russia sta tornando etc. Se non aumentiamo significativamente le fondi per lo sport sara molto male.

Still the referee should have at least to watch VAR before awarding a penalty in the 118th minute that would decide the outcome of the match. In situations like these a penalty needs to be obvious to be awarded and this referee- lady whistles without hesitation, as if nothing had happened. Personally, I don't see any great talent in these English girls. They're simply physically strong. The Spanish have talent. Our girls need to improve their physical preparation and we'll easily be at the level of England, Germany, Sweden, etc. on the every big tournament. It's a shame that Girelli is already 35 and will soon be leaving. We could use a talented star with a flash of genius.

And so, a big applause for this girls. This summer the basketball and football women teams followed a similar path: ambition, fight and a minimal defeat at the end. Despite this a big applause for them. If only the men's national team could compete with such ambition.

Is the penalty also questionable?

England have maybe a 10% chance against Spain after two 120-minute matches, so prepare for another defeat in the final. For us, the semi-final is still a great success.

Then it's no wonder no one likes them. I hope they lose badly in the final.

In men`s Euro also they had a lucky against Slovakia in 1/8.

In Italy's case the men's team needs a complete change with the coaching staff at first. The team has enormous potential but last won something in 2019... Their last Olympic medal was in 2016... Recent tournaments have been lost in the same style: suspensions for brutal play and series of penalty losses. The team clearly has a mental problem and Campagna, after 17 years work, is unable to solve it. It`s time for change!

Spain is an interesting case on men team: a series of World and European Championship medals in recent years but the last Olympic medal in 1996...

Pilato è stata campionessa del mondo 2022 nei 100 metri rana e ha mancato la medaglia alle Olimpiadi del 2024 per un soffio. Considerando tutti i suoi problemi di salute e di salute mentale, questo non è poco e dimostra solo il suo potenziale. L'unica cosa preoccupante è che il suo record personale nei 50 metri risale ancora al 2021...

È un grande talento, ma certamente non al livello di Beni Pilato, che, a mio parere, non è stata sfruttata in migliore modi. Era facilmente una potenziale di dominare nei 50 e 100 metri rana per molti anni. Pilato a 14 anni ha vinto l'argento ai Campionati del Mondo Senior del 2019 nei 50 metri rana! È un talento alla pari con Pellegrini.

Stiamo vivendo un periodo piuttosto interessante nella pallanuoto femminile, dove l'equilibrio di potere si è in qualche modo spostato a seguito delle modifiche regolamentari. La finale della Grecia ne è un esempio migliore (la squadra era già forte, ma più o meno allo stesso livello dell'Italia). La Grecia ha anche una rosa relativamente ringiovanita. Pertanto, non possiamo semplicemente usare la scusa di avere molte giovani giocatrici. Qui, in tre partite contro squadre forti abbiamo perso pesantemente in entrambe. A mio parere questa non è la direzione giusta. Non possiamo semplicemente accettare le sconfitte e trovare scuse. Sia la Settebello che la Setterosa necessitano di cambiamenti radicali: non escluderei prendere di allenatori stranieri, ad esempio: Sukno lavora già alla Pro Recco, quindi perché non offrire un doppio incarico?

Was there no program created for the 2012 Olympics? In a sense, this was probably a missed opportunity for the UK, as it failed to improve its level in any team sport where it had previously been weak: such as volleyball, water polo or handball.

Gold for Italy!

In the case of the Italian women's team, we need to start at the bottom with the youth, as there hasn't been a flow of young talent into the senior teams for years. Silipo, Oca, or anyone else could be the national team coach but without new and strong players, they won't achieve anything. The men's situation is different: there's a pool of strong players and good juniors, but a change at the helm of the senior NT would be useful. Campagna has achieved a lot, but 16 years is a long time...

In theory the USA should have the largest number of players: a large country with a university system.