A fitting reception for Ilaria Renggli and Luca Olgiati

It was a solemn and touching moment when Christian Kramer, mayor of Mettauertal, welcomed Ilaria Renggli and her husband Luca Olgiati to Bärenplatz in Hottwil. Relatives, acquaintances, friends, representatives of the Paralympics, the authorities and many residents came to the ceremony. While it had rained heavily in the morning, the sun shone in the afternoon – and the weather held, except for a brief moment with a few drops of rain.

The Wil music society played, the Mettauertal clubs waved their colorful flags. The community had placed a stage and many tables and benches on Bärenplatz; these were filled to the last place. Families with small children, old and young sat there and listened, spellbound.

Swiss sports history written

Government Councilor Alex Hürzeler praised the achievements of the two athletes, who have lived in Hottwil for almost three years and got married shortly after the Paralympics in Paris. “Ilaria Reggli wrote Swiss sports history with the first medal at the Paralympics in badminton,” said Hürzeler happily. “You have achieved an almost impossible achievement in just four years. Chapeau from me.”

Role models like her are needed in sport. At the same time, Hürzeler praised the excellent performance of Luca Olgiati, who achieved an excellent 9th place in the badminton disciplines. “Such achievements are not given to you,” emphasized Hürzeler. He is looking forward to future top performances.

Retired SRF sports reporter Berni Schär arrived as a surprise guest. In his interview with the extremely likeable Ilaria Olgiati, those present learned a lot of personal things about the medal winner’s life. Above all, she and her husband felt very comfortable in Hottwil and took part in community and club events whenever possible.

This also includes the community meeting. Ilaria Olgiati, who comes from Suhr, is also active in clubs there. She plays the clarinet in the music society and values ​​contact with people of different ages and professional groups. In her free time she is an enthusiastic baker, as is her husband. She prefers sweet pastries and cakes, while her husband bakes all kinds of bread.

Completed 18 weeks of sports recruit school

Sport has always been very important in Ilaria Olgiati-Renggli’s life, but she is not a one-topic person. She graduated from the Old Cantonal School in Aarau and then worked in the office at Volg for six months. She then completed 18 weeks at the top sports recruit school. “It’s not good to only rely on top-class sport,” emphasized Olgiati.

She discussed general topics such as communication and physiotherapy with other top athletes and then had time for personal training. Schär also revealed the young woman’s life motto, a sentence from Mark Twain: “Give every day a chance to be the most beautiful day of your life.”