There were 40 medals won by Italian athletes in different disciplines, both individual and team, at the recently concluded Paris Olympics. An extraordinary adventure that thrilled everyone, keeping viewers from all over the world glued to their television screens. To experience up close historical results, such as the first gold won by Italian women’s volleyball: a title never won before.
There was also a lot of “Veneto” in Paris: 32 athletes from our Region were summoned, 10 medals (2 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze) came from Veneto champions who planted the flag in swimming, rowing, fencing, cycling and volleyball.
Here are the protagonists: swiming champions Thomas Ceccon (Vicenza), Manuel Frigo (Padua), Paolo Conte Bonin (Vicenza), rower Luca Chiumento (Padua), fencer Martina Favaretto (Padua), pistard Francesco Lamon (Venice), gymnast Daniela Mogurean (originally from Moldavia, living in Mestre Venice), cyclist Elia Viviani (Verona) and volleyball phenomenon Paola Egonu, the protagonist of an unforgettable final match against the United States. Born in Cittadella, in the province of Padua, on 18 December 1998, Paola Egonu has two other siblings, Angela and Andrea. Her parents, father Ambrose and mother Eunice, who emigrated in the 1990s, are both Nigerians but met in Italy.
