Luigi and Nello Busà: ‘The gold of Tokyo gave us back the true father-son relationship’

by our correspondent Chiara Soldi

October 15th
– TRENT

The relationship between father and son is not always easy to manage, and if the two are also teachers and athletes the matter becomes more complicated. Nello and Luigi Busà fought and won many battles together, all with the sole aim of leaving a mark in history. At the Sports Festival, on the stage of Palazzo Geremia, the story of the Olympic feat, completed in Tokyo 2020 by Gorilla D’Avola, left space to the story of the rediscovery of a unique love, the unconditional love of a father and the devoted one of a son, a love that for 34 years was hidden behind intense training and severe criticism: “I understood over time that all the reproaches were actually his way of loving me, everything to help me achieve my dream “, says Busà.

The deal

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“Luigi was overweight as a child, he was teased, but I could only see a child with such great energy within him that he could have gone anywhere”, explains Nello. And it is precisely in the kitchen of their house in Avola that the pact that will change little Busà’s life was born: “If you follow me in everything and in everything, you will become a champion”, his father proposed to him. From there a path made of sacrifices and renunciations, which began as a challenge, “I wanted to become stronger than my teacher”, and continued with an ever greater passion for karate, all with the eternal approval of my father.

Severe

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“I remember that in 2006, three minutes after winning my first senior world title at just 18 years old, the first thing my father told me was that I could fight better – says Luigi -. At that moment I didn’t understand, I was on the roof of the world, the youngest in history and it wasn’t enough for him. Then over time I understood: he always tried to make me keep my feet firmly on the ground, and he was right. Today I see many guys who get excited for just one victory, they feel like they have arrived. If I managed to win the Olympic gold in Tokyo it was also because my father always pushed me to improve and give my best.” “It wasn’t easy to play the double role of father-teacher – replies Nello -, but when I focused more on his mistakes than on his success it was because I never doubted for a second the potential he had”.

Dream team

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This is how Nello raised all his four children: leaving them free to choose which path to follow in life, but pushing them to give everything to achieve their full potential. It is no coincidence that all four went on to achieve important results: Lorena, present in the room, won world and European medals before becoming a coach at the Carabinieri Sports Centre, Cristina was Italian champion several times and is now part of the Fiamme azzurre, while Stephanie is a brilliant lawyer. Then there is the mother, the true glue of the whole family: “We are four different personalities and she acted as a pacifier for any differences – Luigi underlines -. If father never got excited about a race, on the contrary she was irrepressible. At the together we are a true dream team.” And when that much dreamed of Olympic gold arrived, it was also the moment for the teacher to take off his armor: “It was as if a weight had been lifted from me, now I could finally stop playing the role of teacher and simply be dad Nello” . “Now when we see each other or call each other we no longer talk about karate. We are rediscovering the joy of being just father and son, and this is worth much more than any medal.”