Beijing 2022 Olympics, Marsaglia: ‘They wanted me not to participate in the Super-G’. La Fisi: ‘Nothing true’

There is a super-G case at the Beijing Games. After the descent, closed in 15th place, Matteo Marsaglia declares that he is not sure of participating in the super-G scheduled for tomorrow and confirms that he is in good physical condition. “As far as I’m concerned I’ll be there, then if someone decides otherwise I don’t know”. Not a small clarification, for a very clear reason. At the Games, the replacement of an athlete can only take place in the event of an injury, or here in Beijing, due to a positive Covid response.

Now, in recent days, Italy has also brought Mattia Casse to Beijing, the first of the excluded in the selection of only 7 men from the men’s national team. The idea was to take advantage of a possible renunciation, by another nation, of a quota-athlete, in order to see Paris, Innerhofer, Marsaglia and Casse at the start. However, this did not happen, the formalization took place today just before noon. And so the seats remain three and there is no room for alternations linked to a technical choice. Hence a logical deduction: if you want to have Casse compete, one of the three must remain outside.

the accusations of marsaglia

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A little later comes the outburst of Marsaglia. “They asked me not to compete because they would like Casse to race. I have explained that they cannot do this. Should I say I’m wrong, declare false? Don’t mess with these things. And should I do this for what? To repair the mistakes of those who led us to have only seven seats in the Olympics Games? People trying to save themselves on the athletes’ skin? To go to the Games it would have needed a podium, or a placement in the top 5, or there would have been a technical choice. I have the placement in the top 5 … If they don’t want me to compete, then I don’t compete, but I won’t leave my pass, at most they will drop in two (Paris and Innerhofer, ed.). They try to turn me against Mattia Casse, who is my friend and for whom I will have to be the best man. No, they won’t. They’ve been trying to get me to stop for four years, should I do them a favor like that? ”.

the replica

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This is the reply from Massimo Rinaldi, sporting director of alpine skiing for Fisi: “I didn’t ask Matteo for anything, much less to declare the false. It would be madness that would have legal consequences also at the level of the IOC. That said, in the current season Matteo Marsaglia has obtained a fourth place in the descent, while in the super-G ranking he is in 39th place. The bib on the descent is deserved and in the race it proved it, but I think I have the right to point out that on a technical level the same cannot be said for the super-G, obviously hoping that tomorrow he will prove me wrong. Among other things, participation in the Olympics does not automatically give the right to participate in all their competitions. That said, Marsaglia will participate in the super-G tomorrow, together with Paris and Innerhofer ”.

speak speakers

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Last night also the reaction of Mattia Casse arrived on the affair, who will return to Italy without competing: “Matteo is not just a teammate, but he is a dear friend. I arrived in China hoping to be able to recover a share from the re-allocation between states; I was confident in the cancellation of the Dubai, Kolasin and Malbun races which, it is no secret, were organized to pursue purposes other than sports. Like me, other athletes were also disappointed with odds assigned in this way. I hope that this injustice will not be repeated ”.