Handbike, infinite Porcelain: immediately on the podium in the World Cup

The 2023 season para-cycling world cup has begun with the first stage held in Maniago, to continue this weekend in Ostend in Belgium. The point of arrival will be the world championship which will take place in Glasgow (Scotland) from 3 to 13 August. Francesca Porcellato did not disappoint expectations conquering two third places in the H3 category in the Italian stage: ”I am satisfied, given that I compete with athletes 30 years younger than me. I’m not yet in top form because these are the first races of the season, there’s still a lot of work to do, but I plan to be ready for August”. Sometimes we wonder if superheroes exist and live near us.

Olympic Golds

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Francesca is an authentic wonder woman capable of winning both the summer and winter Paralympic Games in three different disciplines, continuing to amaze and winning at the age of 53 and still having so much energy to give. Eleven editions of the Paralympic Games behind her (from Seoul 1988 to Tokyo 2020), a string of medals and records, the “flying redhead” is much more than a great athlete. A devourer of books of all kinds, she has always dedicated herself to sport full-time: ”My main hobbies are cooking and reading. My favorites are adventure books, I really like biographies and thrillers, even if I don’t have much time between training, travel and competitions”. Francesca had an accident when she was very young: ”At 18 months I was hit by a truck in the backyard and I lost the use of my legs. I grew up wearing guardians and then, when I was 6, when I was about to start elementary school, they decided to give me a wheelchair to make me more independent when I moved. There were no children’s ones-she explains-she was very wide, but in that moment she immediately seemed beautiful to me and it was as if they were giving me freedom ”.

Born agonist

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From that moment something clicked: ”I decided that I wanted to push her as hard as possible and that I wanted to feel the wind in my hair. Back home, I trained every day because I had decided I wanted to be the fastest girl in a wheelchair, an athlete. My Paralympic journey began like this – he continues – I looked for a sports club that played sports for the disabled, having glimpsed some images on television, which were very rare at the time. I trained alone until, in 1987, I met some guys who were part of a sports club for the disabled”. You have experienced, in many years of activity, the changes and evolutions of the Paralympic world: “The first Paralympic Games was in Seoul in 1988 where I won two golds, one silver and two bronzes. I was 18 and a lot has changed. It is a world that does not recognize itself, in a positive sense, we have gone from amateurism to professionalism and the Paralympic world has increasingly succeeded in helping the world of disabilities. There has been a strong improvement in terms of inclusion, in the removal of architectural barriers, but also in terms of perception. Now the word “Paralympic” has entered Treccani and encompasses all people with disabilities who play sports”.

Multisport

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Eleven participations in the Games, both summer and winter, passing from athletics to cross-country skiing to get to cycling, Francesca has been able to perfectly manage these changes of discipline during her career: “Initially I carried out both athletics and cross country skiing. I was always travelling, so the difficulty was also on an emotional level, experiencing very little family and loved ones. I then decided that one discipline alone would suffice. With the handbike it was different because what I had learned with the other two disciplines was very useful to me and I started winning right away. It was like having lived on income, it was fantastic”. In 11 Paralympics there were many emotions: “14 medals are all my daughters, sought after, wanted, I worked so hard to achieve them. I especially like to remember Vancouver because it was the medal that arrived on the anniversary day of the crash and which is now my second birthday. For me it was a really important sign, and it was almost a bet after several years of athletics. I also like to remember the silver in Athens because it was a taboo and I did the race of my life. Then, of course, I can’t forget the first ever, incredulous at 18 in Seoul in the 100m”.

standard bearer

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In Beijing 2008 blue flag bearer: ”Being named standard bearer was fantastic because it means that in addition to having achieved results as an athlete, a certain type of behavior was also followed to deserve this great honour. I represented the Italian team but also and above all the nation of Italy. Entering the bird’s nest in Beijing (the Olympic stadium, ed) was a riot of sensations and emotions”. She then adds: “Thank goodness I was sitting because I was shaking all over, indescribable”. A special relationship with President Ciampi: “he was always very nice, from the first meeting he called me ‘little girl’ and every time we met this nickname remained”. Asking about Paris 2024, Francesca does not say too much: “I don’t know, at the moment I don’t know. I go on day after day. There is one year to go, but it will be a very busy year and preparing for a Paralympic Games means setting everything aside and dedicating yourself only to that. We’ll see in a few months, but I don’t think about it today.”

marathons

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His palmares also includes victories in the Boston, London (4 times), New York and Paris marathons: “Marathons are my great love. Great inclusion and great passion. In New York I won the year the twin towers fell – comments Francesca – a very special year and a climate of terror, the residents thanked us for being there. It was indescribable to run in those two wings of the crowd at a time when America was hurt. I went to London for the first time almost as a joke, I won it and I couldn’t believe it. In my second year they immediately welcomed me by telling me that no one had won two consecutive editions, in the end I won 4. Boston was very particular, it was a very complicated marathon, an icy wind and a universal flood and I remember having troubled from the first to the last centimetre”. The next appointment is the world championship in Glasgow: ”I will always try to work with the same professionalism to reach my goal. Surely the workloads are different than a few years ago and in fact I envy my opponents who are 30 years younger! The physique at 53 is a bit worn out but I will still try to give my best as long as my arms support me -she adds-she. I was born a agonist and I continue to be a agonist, when I put on my bib I change my expression and give everything I have inside”. For her, a very special secret dream: “Being involved in the world of disability to make this world less difficult. Being able to lend a hand even for the disabled who have no voice and who are unable to play sports”.