THEthe voice on the other end of the phone comes through clearly. Crystalline like the surface of the ice that attracts it, now as then. Manuela Angeli, one of the 14 Italians called up to the 1956 Cortina Games, was only 16 years old when he showed up at the new Olympic stadium to compete in figure skating. The gold medal went to the American Tenley Emma Albright. She placed twentieth. Shortly thereafter, Angeli left racing to dedicate himself to studying and never returned to competitions. Today he is 86 years old. «And yet, when I see the ice shine, when I see a mountain lake with the frozen surface, I feel the desire to skate on it. It is something linked, in some way, to happinessto”.
She is an enthusiastic person, Manuela Angeli. This can be understood from the tone with which she talks about her life as a promising young figure in skating, then as a woman who shared important stages with her husband and finally as a grandmother of five daughters, her “little girls”, now grown up, who are very proud of her. Born in Cortina d’Ampezzo, she will have the Olympics at home for the second time.
Mrs. Angeli, what effect does it have on you?
For the first edition I was a little girl, too busy with my training and school to think about it. However, when they assigned the 2026 one there was a general outcry in the square, I got excited. I didn’t think about it anymore until they started contacting me to tell my story. I had to reflect on my past, especially that one, which I rarely do.
Few women at the Olympics
His story is also in the book The women of Cortina 1956. She was one of 14 women out of a total of 69 Italians.
At that time I was very happy to be able to participate and I found it normal that there were few women: we were used to it. Now I really like that more importance is given to women. I discover a world that I too, if we want, have contributed to creating with my participation.
Manuela Angeli was born on 3 April 1939. In this photo taken in 1955, the year before the Winter Olympics in Cortina, she performs a jump on Lake Misurina. The image is taken from the cover of the book “The women of Cortina 1956” by Antonella Stelitano and Adriana Balzarini. (Courtesy of Manuela Angeli)
How did you get into skating?
I started quite late, at 10 or 11 years old. After coming second in the third category races, I started training seriously. In 1955 I reached the first category, that of seniors. Finding natural ice wasn’t easy: in the winter I stayed in Cortina or moved to Vienna, where part of my family was. In the summer, however, I spent a couple of months in Chamonix. Skating was an expensive sport – as I think it still is, even if it is supported by the federations – and you had to be helped by parents who could afford it.
Manuela Angeli, with her hair tied back, together with the skater Gundi Busch and the coach Thea Frenssen, who followed her for a few months in Chamonix. (Photo Antonowitz/picture alliance via Getty Images)
In his family there was sport.
My father, Amedeo Angeli, was the sportsman of the house (he competed in bobsleigh at the 1936 Winter Olympics, in Garmisch, Germany, ed). And my mother, Mina De Colombis, supported me by reflex. I was lucky enough to be an only child: immediately after the war the economic situation was not the best. The family hotel had been taken over first by the Germans, then by the English and we reopened it in 1948.
Born in 1939, she lived through the Second World War.
Until September 8th it was quite calm, I remember the planes flying at low altitude but without bombing. Then Cortina became a hospital city. My aunt was a Red Cross nurse, every now and then I accompanied her: I was impressed by all those injured boys who arrived on the trains and often died.
Cortina 1956 Olympics: «They asked us for our autograph»
Let’s go back to 1956. Was there any curiosity for you athletes in Cortina?
When we walked through the town they asked us for our autograph: they recognized us because we had the obligation to always wear the uniform. Even when I left the hotel where we were staying with the national team, to go home to say goodbye to my parents, they stopped me on the street. I liked it and it even scared me a little, but I never let it go to my head.
Fiorella Negro and Manuela Angeli on the cover of Epoca. (Paola Romerio Bonazzi Archive)
How were the races held?
Our program included the mandatory figures, which weighed in the final calculation by a certain percentage. You had to follow tracks drawn on the ice: you made “8s”, or three circles in a row, or smaller figures called “buccole”. Then there was the free program, which lasted four minutes and had variations in pace.
To the rhythm of music
Was music already used for free?
Yes, every now and then some record broke, or “scratched” because they didn’t put it together properly… You chose the music with the coach. I remember mine: it was from the musical Anna take the rifle (a 1950 western starring Betty Hutton, ed).
What emotions did you feel on the ice?
I did better in the compulsory than in the free program, but I removed the rest, probably out of fear. However, I remember a great cold and a strong wind in the ice stadium, which was uncovered.
He stopped shortly after.
I would only have competitions the following year: I decided it was better to stop because it was extremely tiring. For my father it was essential that I study and I had to make a great effort to combine books and skating. I never had a minute to myself. Nor the hope of becoming, perhaps two years later, European champion. So I went to Geneva for the last two years of high school and I enrolled in university there.
Have you traveled a lot in your life?
In Geneva I attended interpreting school, which was new at the time. I have traveled the world: not for my studies, but with my husband, Elios Brizio, who is no longer here. He was a mining engineer and worked as a delegate for the European Community. We traveled a lot and it was a beautiful life. I would have continued forever.
Manuela Angeli today at 86 years old (Courtesy photos Manuela Angeli).
His voice transmits joy. What makes you happy right now?
I’m an optimist, I always try to see the positive side. I also think I have been very lucky: I have led the life I liked, I have a beautiful family, I have two sons and five grandchildren, aged between 18 and 36, who love me. They are all very proud of me, so much so that I accept many invitations precisely for them, because I cannot disappoint them.
Have you ever felt nostalgic about skating?
Those moments are far away in time, it’s not about nostalgia. Over the years I have put my boots back on to take the girls skating. But no one was passionate about this discipline. And that’s okay, because it’s a life of great sacrifices and sometimes even injuries, just think of those who do alpine skiing.
Do you watch the races?
It wasn’t easy for a while. Now yes, I often find them beautiful. I hope that whoever takes part in the Olympics, whatever their sport, puts a lot of passion into it.
His talent for skating was very strong.
It lasted a few years, but it was the great passion of my life.
