In the end, all that was missing was a “return vincitor”, one of those that only Giuseppe Verdi knew how to write in one of the arias of Aida. But that large writing “may the force be with you” on the cake at the end of the evening had the same meaning. That, plus the now classic “come on”, which has become a slogan since that individual world title won in 2018. This is how the Terni foilist Alessio Foconi had the push of the Fencing Club Terniin view of the Paris Olympics. The blue fencingat the Games, is also banking on him. And, of course, on one of his medal. Terni, today, dreams that its fellow citizen, after having brought back to the Conca so many international trophies, will also bring back the only one that is still missing from its champion, that is, an Olympic metal.
The convivial evening at the end of the season of the Terni Fencing Club was dedicated to Foconi, as always a guest. He now trains mainly in the sports centers of the Air Force. But when he can, he returns to the club where he took up the foil for the first time as a child, taking part in one of the “Topolino Courses” and where he learned and improved with the lessons and advice of Giulio Tomassini, the master of champions. In the evening with the club’s managers, the athletes and their families; many prizes arrived for everyone, plus a special “fair play” prize with an award ceremony for three boys as “fair play ambassadors”. Foconi was a true showman. Giving his best when he took hold of the microphonegranting one of the moments in which he takes off his clothes sporty and dresses those from entertainer. Here, the good school of his partner, the actress Maria Vittoria Cozzella, comes out, who often involves him in artistic and acting projects also in the theater. Foconi showed off his contagious smile to entertain all those present, from the other athletes who grew up with him to the little fencers that the Fencing Club is training today, precisely with the collaboration of Foconi. He, the champion, becomes a teacher with the children. He gave a little jolt to the aspiring fencers. Especially the fencers. «Because you must know – he said – that epee and sabre, towards the foil, suffer from a complex». Then, a barzelletta. Short and simple. “A joke,” he said afterwards, “but as you can see, a fencer can also tell jokes when you least expect it.”
Who knows, maybe Foconi really has a future as an actor. In the meantime, the Terni sports team expects him to have a very near future as an Olympic medalist. He is now in pre-retirement. When he packs his suitcase for Paris, he will also include the warmth of the Fencing Club and all of Terni. To keep it with him and hold it ideally when, on the Parisian platform, he puts on the mask and picks up the foil.
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