phelps

part #2, the Nineties Albertville 1992, the first Games where I became a true addicted to charm of the Olympics once again, Alberto Tomba above anything else, but also the desperate cry of Debora Compagnoni in the women's GS, when she broke her knee just the day after winning gold in the super-G. the improbable men's combined event in alpine skiing, but also the birth of the golden age of the Italian Cross-Country Skiing (skipping school to watch Stefania Belmondo winning gold over the 30km...priceless). Barcelona 1992, one of the most memorable edition of the Olympics with a lot of unforgettable moments. among them, Montserrat Caballè and (the spirit of) Freddy Mercury at the Opening Ceremony, the long night of Giovanna Trillini, when she won the individual gold medal in women's Foil, the golden hour of Pierpaolo Ferrazzi (men's K1 Canoe Slalom -the sport making its Olympic debut) and of the poor Fabio Casartelli (winner of the gold medal in the Cycling men's Road Race). finally, the amazing men's Waterpolo final, when Italy beat Spain, refs, spectators, FINA and the King of Spain against all the odds. Lillehammer 1994, "the" Winter Games. "the" race: men's CC Skiing, the Italian relay outsprinting the entire Norwegina population and causing one of the biggest upsets in the history of that sport, if not of the whole Winter Olympics. but also our wonderful guys of the Short Track, beating the mighty Koreans in the men's relay and the alpine skiing, with the last medal won by "la Bomba" (the unbelievable comeback from 15th to 2nd in he men's Slalom), the golden GS by Debora Compagnoni and the rise of the new star of our alpine skiing, Isolde Kostner, twice bronze medallist in Super-G and Downhill. finally, the best Ice Hockey match ever (outside the NHL), the GMM between Sweden and Canada. Atlanta 1996, lots of memories...my first "night" Games and the fact that I was serving my military service (mandatory in Italy at that time, 12 months of wasted time), from which I don't know yet today how I could find the way to get a full 20 day break to watch the Olympics. and how to forget Muhammad Alì enlighting the Cauldron? or the terrorist attack at the Olympic Village? (luckily a minor thing compared to 1972). among the sport events, I remember almost all the Italian medals and many other great competitions...just to name a few, Paola Pezzo winning gold in the first ever Mountain Bike Olympic race, Roberto Di Donna winning gold in the men's Air Pistol (Shooting) only because of Yifu Wang shooting the last shot at the Moon, the medals raining in Track Cycling and Canoeing, especially Antonio Rossi and Josefa Idem winning the men and women's K1 500m one after another. Nagano 1998, with Italy started their decline in Winter Sports, my best memories are still Hermann Meier literally flying out of the Track in the men's Downhill and then coming back winning the men's Super-G after just 24 hours and Dominik Hasek and his Czech Republic winning in style the gold medal in the very first Olympic tournament played by the NHL players. more to come...

the event hasn't even started, yet... and here we go... a couple of Ukranians (surprise, surprise ) and, above all, the Olympic Silver medallist in the men's -81kg, Zacharia Bonnat, have already been caught with their hands in the marmelade... https://iwf.sport/2022/12/03/the-ita-asserts-apparent-anti-doping-rule-violations-against-4-weightlifters-prior-to-the-iwf-world-championships/ https://iwf.sport/2022/12/03/ita-reports-adverse-analytical-finding/

Winter sports of any kind (Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Nordic Combined, Luge, Alpine Skiing, Snowboard, even Speedskating, if you have a Eurosport/Discovery+ subscription)... not into Winter sports? Football World Cup ( vs starting in a few minutes) or American Football (yesterday's college games rather than the NFL later @ 7 p.m.)... some club Basketball and/or Volleyball rather than Rugby... and from tomorrow, the doping...ops...Weightlifting Worlds, I mean...

to answer your pivotal question... it's really difficult to rank all of those sensational successes Italy has had over the past 120 years or so, especially because I normally enjoy sports that here aren't even a niche that most people ignore the existence of. so, I'm going with a fully personal list since my first Olympic memories... Sarajevo 1984, men's single Luge, Paul Hildgartner's gold medal and the first games of an international Ice Hockey tournament (in particular, Jim Corsi on the italian net stopping the Big Red Machine and the KLM line for more than half a game and all of the amazing Soviet team plays). Los Angeles 1984, the gold medal won by the tiny wrestler Vincenzo Maenza (greco-roman -48kg), the gold medal won by Alberto Cova (men's 10,000m) and the silver medal won by Sara Simeoni (athletics), the first Olympic chapter of the Abbagnale saga in Rowing and the tragic last meters of the Swiss marathon specialist in the very first women's race over that distance at the Games. Calgary 1988, well...I don't have great memories about those Games, also because of the very poor coverage they got on our TV. Except one (actually, 2) unforgettable events: Alberto Tomba's gold medals (men's GS and Slalom, especially this one -the most viewed sport event in the history of the Country outside some football games at the world cup) in Alpine Skiing. Seoul 1988, actually my most intense memories are about a loss, the boxing scandal when Vincenzo Nardiello was declared a loser against the Korean fighter, the same who then made an even bigger scandal by robbing the gold medal against Roy Jones Jr. then, the final day, when the poor Vincenzo Parisi won the gold medal in Boxing, followed a few moments later by the amazing Gelindo Bordin in the men's Marathon. more to come (sorry, but now I have to leave )...

no, here they aren't (copyright issues)

what a sad race...especially among the women, the competition was...meh! the average level of the (still most exciting) discipline of snowboard is going down every Olympic cycle instead of getting better...

no brainer, Franz Klammer.

Basketball, men's Tournament...that's a no brainer like no other... USA was, is and will be always on another planet when it comes to basketball. Basketball, women's Tournament for Gold...once again, there's no other choice than USA. Basketball, women's Tournament for Bronze...in this case I pick Spain because their golden generation is probably the best non-US team ever. Handball, men's Tournament...despite all of my personal bias towards the great Jugoslavija of the Eighties and Croatia in between the Nineties and the early 2000's, I just can't pick the golden generation of France as the obvious pick. Waterpolo, men's tournament...here I have to ignore my personal bias, but tbh Hungary must be an obvious pick, as they produced so many unbelievably good teams (those with Tibor Benedek in the pool were just a pleasure to watch), even if the Serbian masters of the last 10 years can't be ignored as well.

yes, you're right! I always mess them up because it was Passler that came close to the gold medal with 4 mistakes (with 3 he would have won easily), but he made them all in the first 3 shooting sessions, meanwhile Zingerle missed (all) 4 in the last round, but he would have won only if had made 2 mistakes or less and not with 3 missed shots.

maybe you're right, but still I expected more from the girls. Giacomel instead is already good on the skis, but he has too many problems with his shooting (and I fear our coaches are trying to change his natural shooting pace, slowing him down, which is not a good idea...so far, actually, they're making him a mess at the shooting range). however, we have time until our home Olympics...let's see if they can build up, slowly but steadily...or if they will be more wasted talents, as it happened with some guys of the previous generation.

Equestrian, team Dressage...to my displeasure, it must be Germany...too succesfull as a school. Equestrian, team Eventing...not really an expert, but the Australian team dominating the Nineties until the home triumph in Sydney is my pick. Equestrian, team Jumping...the current team Sweden is amazing, I think that none of the champions of the past (again, for the little I know about this discipline) have the same charm other than strenght. therefore they are my pick. Fencing, men's team Epee...despite the 1996 & 2000 double is always in my heart & mind (especially that miracle by Alfredo Rota in Sydney 2000 in the semifinal match vs ), the French team in the last 20 years is so dominant that must be the only possible pick. Athletics, men's 4*100m Relay...I'm too biased, but the emotion was so strong that I almost had a stroke and therefore I just have to pick the (maybe) most unexpected gold medal in the history of the Italian sport, so Italy is my pick.

and now they almost tied the game. if ARG fall asleep, they really risk to repeat the Saudi's fail.

there's not enough skiing talent and, worse, there are no good skiing coaches in our men's Biathlon... the women, instead, have a lot more chances to develop a good team, but so far Passler, Auchentaller and Zingerle have been really disappointing and haven't done a decent transition to the senior ranks, yet. still, I hope they can slowly improve up to Wierer and Vittozzi's level one day (possibly by the 2026 Olympics).

unfortunately most people remember him for throwing away the gold medal in the individual race in Albertville 1992, when he entered the last shooting needing only 3/5 to win gold and 2/5 to earn at least a silver/bronze medal, but he hit only 1/5

both of them, courtesy of Italy

ESPN Player official subscription https://www.espnplayer.com/packages and sometimes (today is one of those days) CBS website with VPN I also used to have USTVNow to watch the CBS and FOX channels, but nowadays it's only a paid service (and an expensive one) with poor picture quality, therefore I abandoned it.

obviously...watching mainly alpine skiing and college football right now

Hütter DNS I hope it's nothing serious...

there's only one Sofiaaaaaaa!!!

settimana molto densa per gli sport invernali... Lisa Vittozzi un lampo nel buio più drammatico dell'inizio di stagione del Biathlon, ottimo secondo posto di Sieff sulla "sua" pista a Lillehammer nella combinata Nordica femminile e pessima figura (tanto per cambiare) nel Fondo (dopo il miracoloso podio di Pellegrino della settimana scorsa)... ma soprattutto, su tutto e tutti...Sofiaaaaaaaaa!!! debutto stagionale con vittoria per la fuoriclasse azzurra, anche se Suter e Hutter sono finite proprio in scia. non bene le altre azzurre, si salva solo Curtoni.

Sofia is baaaack!!! but damn! it was so close with Suter and Hütter just a fraction behind. very, very good race also by Stuhec...I'm really happy for her, after so many injuries and tech troubles in the past 2/3 seasons...

my pick is "I'm cuuuummmming!!!"

love the enthusiasm of the Korean commentators...

now that they're safe, yes... but it was fun in that short while when was winning against unfortunately, it didn't last long

sealing the deal hopefully, it won't be enough... p.s. vs 4-2 is the same score of the opening match of the 2006 world cup