“I leave Italian sport as an absolute excellence”. Giovanni Malagò speaks

When he leaves the CONI office tonight after 12 years and 127 days of presidency, Giovanni Malagò will be moved. He will shed those tears that so often accompanied the feats of Italian athletes during his reign. His office, which had become a small sports museum, is now empty. Only the furniture remains and it is not certain that he will not take that with him too. After all, he had paid for it out of his own pocket on the first day, when he tried to sit in the office that had belonged to Gianni Petrucci. “There were still some pieces of furniture from Onesti’s time, including an ecclesiastical sideboard and two very uncomfortable chairs in front of my desk, perhaps placed on purpose so that guests would not stay long… they explained to me that to change them I would have to hold a tender… so I called Matteo Montezemolo who was president of Frau and asked him to furnish the office… He gave me a 30 percent discount, but I paid out of my own pocket… that’s why I haven’t decided yet whether to take them away”, he jokes, but not by much.

The first thing of his that was pinned to the walls was the photograph of him running to victory, hugging his daughters who had come back especially for him. “I was convinced I would win, even if they were telling a different story in here. That’s why I asked all the secretaries if they wanted to stay or change jobs.” They all stayed, even those who until the night before were campaigning for his rival. And in the end, many will think like Onesti’s old lawyer who went to greet him yesterday morning and told him: “They will never find a president who has your passion and your competence again.” On the other hand, he would define himself like this: “Giovanni Malagò, the president who loved Italian sport and the National Olympic Committee like no other.”

He leaves behind a sport that is better than he found it : “I try to be objective. I leave behind a sport with a very high prestige at a national and international level, which is not trivial today. I leave behind results never achieved in history. I leave behind a consensus that will not be easy to reach for those who come after. And I leave behind an unprecedented offer of events organized by Milano Cortina to the youth games up to those of the Mediterranean”. And it’s a shame for those Games in Rome that by then were a done deal…

A vote for his presidency? “No, don’t ask me, but I’m sure that if you asked those who worked with me and the athletes, it wouldn’t be bad”. It would be enough not to let Paolo Barelli and Angelo Binaghi, Federnuoto and Federtennis vote: “There were two of them… In the last four years not one voted against. Those who would have done so never showed up at the Council. But it’s strange that after having lost interest or worse having spoken badly of CONI, today they are working so hard for the elections. They could have run themselves if they could… But I would have no problem embracing them for a common cause in favor of our sport”. Today they support Pancalli, Malagò is with Buonfiglio and Carraro is the third wheel from his comfortable armchair as an 85-year-old who has already seen everything in life.

Tomorrow 81 people will go to vote.

His message for the new president is simple: “He must do different things because each of us is made in his own way. He must have absolute transparency and not be afraid of making mistakes. Above all, he must be a person who is humanly available to everyone, not just to those who are friends and have helped him. If I have one merit, it is that of having been able to bring together all the components and of having always kept the door of my office open”. In fact, if he must admit mistakes, he says that he has humanly placed too much trust in someone. And he admits that he did not work in time on his succession as Bach did with Coventry, the first female president of the IOC : “I thought they would grant me the extension and therefore that I would have had time to prepare the succession. But honestly I believe it has never happened and will never happen again to change the president of CONI and the Paralympic Committee on the eve of the Games in our country”.

And here we are with the politics that blocked his path. But Malagò does not attack this time: "I really appreciated that the government did not intervene in these elections, staying out. However, to say that sport is safe from politics, you should know what kind of people will arrive. Everything depends on the men". During his reign, 8 governments, 7 prime ministers and 8 supervisory authorities between ministers and undersecretaries have succeeded each other, including a reform of Sport made specifically to eliminate him: "I see an angrier Italy, much less tolerant and less optimistic. I, on the other hand, am a super fan of my country, I really feel like a patriot and I am rooting for Meloni to win her medium-long term bet". An unexpected endorsement, but sincere because today it does not lead to any results. The last postcard is dedicated to her magical moments: “The gold medal of the girls' volleyball team moved me. It was the last one, but also the team gold medal that I was missing. And then Federica Pellegrini because we had two parallel careers. To not forget those 11/13 minutes spent between the gold medals of Tamberi and Jacobs. Something that will remain forever in history and not just in mine”.

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