The future of Fijlkam, which brings together judo, wrestling, karate and martial arts, will also pass through Romagna. The countdown to the presidential elective assembly on December 21st at the PalaPellicone in Ostia started weeks ago. In the running are Giovanni Morsiani from Faenza, current vice president at the helm of the fight sector, and the judo guru Ezio Gamba.
Yes, that’s him: the man who won the gold medal at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 and the silver in Los Angeles four years later. A living legend for the sport practiced on the tatami with a place in the discipline’s Hall of Fame and a past as general secretary of the European Judo Union. In addition to that of coordinator of the Russian national teams which were brought, for the first time, to the triple Olympic gold at the London Games in 2012.
A result that also earned him Russian citizenship for sporting merits received from the hands of Vladimir Putin of whom he was personal judo teacher. Then, the choice to run for the highest level of the federation based in Ostia Lido. And here Romagna comes back into play, with data in hand, an extraordinary breeding ground of Greco-Roman wrestling champions. From Gianmatteo Ranzi, Olympic bronze medalist in Munich in 1972, to the hero of the Los Angeles and Seoul Games Vincenzo Maenza.
Without forgetting the three appearances of Daigoro Timoncini from Riolo Terme and the golden tale of Andrea Minguzzi from Imola in the summer of 2008 in Beijing. A group of highly decorated athletes ready to support Gamba’s project: “There is a need for change and Ezio is the right man – explains Minguzzi who is also a candidate as a managing advisor of the fighting sector –. A capable person with a strong vision managerially. His career speaks for him and I’m not just referring to the many successes he achieved as an athlete.”
And again: “Brilliant in every initiative, with top management experience behind him and competent in managing budgets – continues the medalist from Imola –. He knows every aspect of these worlds because he has lived them, for years, from the inside”.
On his aspirations, however, Minguzzi is clear: “It is a pride to have been among the first people contacted by Gamba to give new life to a fighting section that was clearly suffering – he concludes –. It is a delicate historical moment for our discipline with results that are missing and the numbers of practitioners are plummeting”. This is echoed by Daigoro Timoncini, the last Italian athlete to qualify for the Olympics (it was 2016 in Rio, ed.) for Greco-Roman wrestling: “I got to know Gamba personally and he has all it takes to give the necessary change of pace to the federation – underlines the former wrestler from Romagna – It is the only possible choice to make a real change to the system in trouble. He has made a difference on and off the tatami program concretely responds to the needs of societies throughout Italy and he knows well what he’s talking about.” The Olympic judo champion Giuseppe Maddaloni and the karate world champion Davide Benetello will also be at Gamba’s side.
