“Iliass Aouani is even when he speaks.” Word of Massimo Magnani, the coach of the bronze marathon runner in Tokyo, who does not hide his admiration for man beyond the athlete. The proof that Magnani is right is in the interview with Iliass on the number on newsstands of Christian family.
Magnani does not conceal his legitimate satisfaction for the bronze brought by Aouani to the Tokyo athletics World Championships, after the gold at the European Championships in the Lovanio last March: the medals are the icing on the cake of his predictions, given in unsuspected times, regarding the qualities of AOUANI on long distances and on a marathon runner. But as a long -term coach repeats: “The results count, but they are the destination and from my point of view the most beautiful, more interesting, more challenging, of the path taken with Iliass Aouani is the journey”.
Tell us how it went between you and how did the Iliass coach that we know today?
«When I was in Ferrara in 2021, asking me to train him, we already knew each other. As a technical director of the national team, I had convened him when he was 20 years old and I told him that I saw in him long distances in him. Iliass at the time looked at me strangely, because I repeated these things even in the face of disappointing results, but evidently my messages in the bottle remained inside him, when he returned from the United States, with a degree in engineering, he came to look for me and I welcomed him first in my house, then being right that he had his spaces, now he lives in the house that was of my mother “.
Do you repeat that the path was more important than the results, what does it mean?
«Iliass is a two -year -old immigrant child, raised in a peripheral neighborhood in Milan, in a family with five children: all with an high school experience behind them and all graduates, this should make those who express themselves very lightly and very barbarously towards those who leave their country to seek a more adequate situation! After graduating in America, Iliass came to me and we tried to develop a project that could enhance her athletic qualities, after he had already worked through studies on human ones “.
The results gave you reason.
«The first year won four Italian titles in different disciplines, which never happened to no middle distancer. In 2022 his debut in the marathon in Milan was the best debut ever, then the following year he did the Italian record, results that made him known for all his qualities, not only sports ».
Having qualities beyond sport also serves to end the marathons better?
«I am convinced of yes, sport is never just a muscle fact, who thinks it is wrong. People are not only made of muscles, but also of spirit, head, heart and all components come into play. I am an old athletic enthusiast first of all and when I see in a boy of the talents I try to encourage them. I have always believed in Iliass because in addition to the physical qualities it brings behind a luggage that it is not always easy to find ».
One account is to grow a young man, other is related to an athlete already formed as a person. How has your relationship changed over time?
«When I was more than seventy years, I have a son of 47, I know what the paternal feeling is, it is with Iliass an almost paternal affection has been established. When feelings are strong it happens that contrasts arise. Because wanting both to give the best, sometimes you can also make mistakes, perhaps because the relationship is too tight. Our relationship has stopped for six months, but the door between us has never closed. At that time each of us questioned and when we decided to leave, it was not a heated soup but a new planning, strong of the errors made, not to be repeated, and capable of new stronger ambitions. I can say that we came out stronger with a new harmony ».
The results of 2025 confirmed the goodness of your work, where do you want to arrive?
“2025 was his best season, but 30 years are not many for a marathon runner, ours is a discipline in which the best is given by experts.”
She taught for life: train and teaching are relatives work?
“I have always done the teacher by choice: teaching and training means giving tools because one enhances his qualities, learning to make choices independently: seeing Ilias, who today is an athlete and a completely autonomous man, expressing himself as in Tokyo is a great satisfaction”.
How long does a marathon for her look?
«How much that of the athlete including the preparation cycle, because you live it together every day in the most important workouts, in the simplest ones, on beautiful and hard days. We started that of Tokyo together the previous night, in the sense that I slept a less restaurateur sleep than the usual, then it continued when Iliass went to the call room, where the athletes can no longer have contact with the managers and continued for 42 kilometers in which I in front of a screen I saw how the race managed and I became aware of the fact that we had been making the one together.
