There will also be a piece of Neptune at the next Olympics in Paris. This is about Nicolangelo (known as Nicocoach) Antonicelli, a native of Nettuno, technical director of the Egyptian national women’s beach volleyball team who qualified with the women for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after winning the Continental Cup in Morocco, beating Nigeria in the final. “It’s a historic qualification – he tells us with great satisfaction – and it wasn’t easy. We all believed in it, but we knew we had a one in a hundred chance of hitting it. In the end the work pays off“. For Nicolangelo Antonicelli, 54 years old, it is the third Olympics. The other two were Beijing 2008 as assistant coach of the Italian men’s national team and London 2012 as coach of the Italy women’s team. His love for beach volleyball began when he was a taekwondo athlete of the Fiamme Oro and then dedicated himself completely as a coach to this discipline, traveling halfway around the world and winning a lot until he took part in three Olympics. For a year now he has been head coach of the Egyptian federation and under his responsibility are all the senior and youth men’s and women’s national teams. “I was called by the Egyptian federal president to replace the previous technical staff that was not producing results. I was given enormous trust by putting me in a position to work every day. In addition to the historic Olympic qualification, we won the African Cup of Nations in both the men’s and women’s fields and the continental title with the Egyptian girls. And it was not easy for me who grew up and coached in the European context“. His palmares is quite rich, including the title of European champion won with the Italian team in 2011. In addition there are also 24 medals won with the Italian national team on the FIVB world circuit. Now there is Paris 2024 with what objective? “That of outsider. In our qualifying pool there will be Italy where I will find Marta Menegatti, a player with whom we reached the fifth place together at the London Olympics“. After this qualification his mind immediately went towards his father Augusto who is no longer with us and who in Nettuno was well known by the nickname “Barba” and above all for having been the lifeguard at the Sangallo bathing establishment for many years. “I am proud to be able to dedicate another Olympics to him. He cared a lot about it. Unfortunately he passed away after the London Games in 2012.“.
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