Yes Simone Deromedis rolls in the snow, Federico Tomasoni on his knees looks at a sky full of snow in which he sees things that no one knows.
It happens at the end of the ski cross: a kind of toboggan in which 4 of us go straight down at the same time, another of the tightrope walking things seen in recent days, from the snowboard cross – equivalent on the board – of Michela Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva; to Flora Tabanelli’s freestyle Big air, and now them: the gold of Simone Deromedis and the silver of Federico Tomasoni they honor the last medal of Livigno who ends his Olympics here. A ride in the lead by Deromedis, a comeback desired with the soul by Tomasoni.
There is so much celebration and so much emotion in the hugs there in the midst of the white where the only color is that of the crowd supporting the blue of the uniforms immediately covered by the white jacket by Armani which makes the Azzurri among the most elegant of the Olympics.
As laymen, we wonder how we can get down like that without seeing anything. But it’s done. They do it. Because it’s their job, because they’ve loved this game since they were little. And, in the end, they bring the only gold-silver double of the Games, medals that are all the more precious because they are the first in the history of skicross and for once they give visibility to a leap year discipline on TV, for which people work for four years in the shadows for the one-day showcase.
And, at the end, only at the end, in that window appears, shyly never exhibited, in the white a small yellow sun with a black helmet by Federico Tomasoni, few outside the world know what it means, it is the sun symbol of the Matildina 4 safe foundation, for skiing safety, dedicated to Matilde Lorenzi, an open wound in Italian skiing, but more so in the heart of Federico who was engaged to Matilde.
A wordless pain that only asks for respect and which is shown in just a gesture: the silver medal kissed while looking at a sky of snow and milk in which no one sees the sun except him.
He later told the world press, visibly moved: “I had been imagining this moment for a week, but it’s one thing to imagine it, it’s another thing to succeed: fairy tales exist.” But it’s never easy to tell them to the world when you’re so involved. Understanding the difficulty, Deromedis, sitting next to him, came to his aid: «I’m happy that Federico has achieved this result, with what he’s been through, there have been hard moments, extreme for him, but difficult for everyone, we’ve done everything we can to stay close to him but it’s not easy».
Not even telling the world about it, it is.
