«I was training alone in the open country before Coronavirus, I could have done it even now, but it takes a sense of responsibility: we have to stay at home ». To speak so it is Giovanni Pelielo, Vercelli champion among the most famous in the history of skeet shooting: «This virus has changed our daily life - says the athlete from Vercelli -. They presented it to us as a simple influence: it is instead something devastating ». Pellielo has suspended training: «I could have continued, also because I would have trained alone at Tav San Giovanni, but I preferred to stop. To protect my mother Santina, who is 82 years old.
Thanks to her I started shooting. She is passionate about hunting: when I turned 18 she gave me the first shotgun with great sacrifices. Thanks to her I was able to start this career that has consecrated me among the best in the world. Today it's my turn to take care of her ». He leaves the house once a week: «To go shopping and go to the pharmacy - he says -. Then I go to the camp, five minutes to see that everything is ok: the Tav is isolated in the countryside. You always fear that someone will take advantage of it to cause disasters. Let's try to find the positive side of this forced stop: rediscover the true values". «Johnny», who is very religious, seeks in faith the strength to overcome the difficult moment: he who in Rio, before falling asleep, was reading Joseph Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth.
With skeet shooting he traveled the world. Now stay home and invite others to do the same. Since 1989, the year he started his career in blue, he has fired on almost all the platforms of the 5 continents: won 4 world champion titles, 4 Olympic medals in 7 consecutive editions of the Games (bronze in Sydney 2000 and silver in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016), 7 crystal trophies and an endless series of other medals. Nobody like him: trophies that are hardly counted anymore. Pellielo is at the top of the ranking of the most successful in clay pigeon shooting: only the Olympic gold is missing. The Vercelli champion in May should have gone to France, to the European Championships, to play the last chance to fly to Tokyo 2020: "As of today, I don't have the card in hand for the Olympic games. If they will? I just say that sport is joy and this must be shared.
How do you compete without giving each other a hand, without hugging each other if you win a medal? Without an audience or anyone to tell you good? I think it's a sad thing. Today, more than thinking about whether a demonstration will take place or not, we need to defeat the virus. Only after having done this, will we all be able to think of a more serene and safer tomorrow ». He, who had been in the running to bring the flag to the 2016 Rio Olympics, a Tokyo 2020, if he ever goes there, he could open the Italian parade: «Let's all wave the Tricolor from our balconies - says Pellielo -. It would mean that we have beaten the Coronavirus "(The print).