Coni Gold Medal for Athletic Valour. It was recently delivered to the members of Il Moro di Venezia, those who won the Louis Vuitton Cup in 1992 and played in the America’s Cup Match. The first boat from a non-English speaking country to be able to challenge the holder of the Trophy in 141 years – then – about the history of the trophy. An honor that, to tell the truth, comes a long time after those days in San Diego. But better late than never and Coni did well to remember this.
Present at the ceremony were the president of Coni, Giovanni Malagò, with the minister of Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, the president of Fiv Francesco Ettorre and the Olympic champion Alessandra Sensini. The Medal went to Gabriele Bassetti Graziano Bellomo, Lars Borgstrom, Paolo Bottari, Daniele Bresciano, Carlo Castellano, Paul Cayard, Tommaso Chieffi, Enrico Chieffi, Duilio Coletti, Marco Cornacchia, Luca Dignani, Alberto Fantini, Massimo Galli, Gianluca Lamaro, Vittorio Landolfi, Andrea Madaffari, Roberto Martinez, Sergio Mauro, Lorenzo Mazza, Andrea Merani, Andrea Mura, Tiziano Nava, Alessio Pratesi, Massimo Procopio, Francesco Rapetti, Marco Schiavuta, Sandro Spaziani, Davide Tizzano, Ulisse Vicinanza, Guido Antar Vigna.
They said
“In 1992 for professional reasons – said Minister Abodi – I had a close relationship with the Moro di Venezia experience and with those who promoted it; therefore, my thoughts certainly go to Raul Gardini. I experienced firsthand the emotions of that period and this is the spirit of my presence here today. It was a wonderful experience that made Italians fall in love, made sailing much more known and changed the level of attention, even of institutions, towards this sector which is sporting but also industrial, creates added value, it generates wealth, offers work and is an element of excellence at an international level”. Ettorre underlined “the importance of the fact that many of the winners still continue to teach sailing to our young people”. “I think this is the most important message,” he added.
“The Moro di Venezia has remained in the country’s memory certainly because it represented an innovative, technological and sporting challenge, but above all for the human aspect that you guys conveyed at the time and the empathy generated with the fans – said Ivan Gardini, son of Raul -. All this is still recognized today after more than 30 years. My father would certainly have been happy about this and honored to share this important recognition with his crew.”
