Carola Mangiarotti, interview: “Arianna Fontana’s record? Dad would have hugged her”

“Dad would have applauded Arianna Fontana and if he could have hugged her, because as a man of sport he knew very well that records are made to be broken. And after 66 years it was normal that someone could do it.” Carola Mangiarotti, 73 years old, from Milan, is the daughter of Edoardo, a legend of Italian fencing, capable of winning 13 Olympic medals (6 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze) in fencing, between Berlin 1936 and Rome 1960. Arianna Fontana, 35, showed up on the eve of Milan Cortina with a haul of 11 medals which already made her the most successful woman ever just two podiums away from the legendary Mangiarotti. With the gold of the mixed relay and the silver of the 500 meters, the queen of short track had caught up with him and on Wednesday evening, leading the 3000 meter relay to second place, she surpassed him. Arianna Fontana is now the Italian athlete with the most Olympic podiums (14) ever and today she has the possibility of further extending her reach in the 1500. Carola Mangiarotti, who in turn was an Olympic athlete (she participated in the Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980 Games), followed Arianna’s pursuit step by step. “From the opening ceremony onwards I haven’t missed a race – says Carola -. This is an Olympics at home! And imagine if I could miss the Fontana races. I knew he could beat his father’s record and now he can do even better”.

Don’t you Mangiarottis regret having “lost” a record?

“Absolutely not, in fact we have to thank Arianna who also made people talk about dad. After 66 years she was there. And I’m happy that such a good woman beat that record. Happy that it’s a woman in an edition of the Games that is sensationally female. Women in every sector of our lives are finally expressing themselves at their best. I haven’t met Arianna personally and I’d like to meet her. Having said that… dad still holds the record for gold medals: no Italian has won 6. In a way of the Olympic medal table he still remains number one…”.

What would Edoardo Mangiarotti say if he were still alive?

“He would say that Arianna deserves everything because she is a champion of her sport and has been at the top for twenty years. Winning medals again in her sixth Olympics is synonymous with quality. Dad took part in 5 editions and lost two of them, 1940 and 1944, due to the war. And as a true sportsman he knew how to recognize the value of others. Even though he had won everything, he always told me that, in foil, the Frenchman Christian d’Oriola was stronger than everyone, him too. Yes, he would have liked Arianna Fontana because she has talent, but also a lot of character.”

What was the greatest Mangiarotti?

“I would say that of the 1952 Helsinki Games. In that Olympics he participated in four competitions and collected 4 medals: gold in individual and team épée, silver in individual and team foil…”.

In Helsinki 1952 Edoardo also wrote for the Gazzetta dello Sport…

“Of course, and he always talked about the stormy relationship with Gianni Brera, who was the director and was in charge of the expedition. One evening he got very angry because dad hadn’t yet dictated his piece to the newspaper. Dad, as soon as he arrived in the press room, apologized more or less like this: “Excuse me Mr Brera, but today was the final phase of the sword tournament. My brother Dario and I took first and second… gold and silver! However, I have already written a few notes and now I said straight away. “It was another world. Then dad and our whole family, we have always remained tied to the Gazzetta.”

She was also an Olympic athlete.

“I was part of the foil team both in Montreal 1976 and in Moscow 1980, achieving two fifth places. As a young girl I promised well, at 13 I was the Italian champion and shot from the right. Then I had a problem linked to the onset of scoliosis and I found myself at a crossroads. Quit or become left-handed, like my father. It was my grandfather Giuseppe, a swordsman, who in turn had participated in the London Olympics 1908, it was a struggle to set myself up as a left-handed person because my head was right-handed.”

Mangiarotti is still a prestigious fencing school.

“Grandfather Giuseppe trained many Olympic champions and father also always cared a lot about the school that bears his name. Even now, under the Cozzi swimming pool, we manage to follow around 300 fencing enthusiasts, from 6 to 80 years old. But we are really very worried about the future of our beloved “Mangiarotti sword club”: in fact, I would like to launch an appeal to the city”.

I mean, what’s going on?

“What happens is that the Municipality of Milan will entrust the renovation work of the Cozzi swimming pool to a private company that will pay for all the work. Very good! But in the new project there will no longer be space for the “Scuola Mangiarotti” which was rented there. In essence, we can stay there for another year and then we will no longer have a “home”. A historic school with great tradition, where champions such as Diana Bianchedi, Stefano Belloni, Alfredo Rota and Angelo Mazzoni grew up, risks disappearing. The Municipality promised to be interested in finding a new place to rent to us, but months have passed and there has been no proposal. I hope that there is still someone in Milan who has culture and passion for sport to rent us an adequate space. We still believe in it.”