The Olympic skier from Bergamo in PyeongChang talks to Aldo Grasso at the Sports Festival: “I have had 9 operations, the pain has always accompanied me. I work on inner freedom, it makes me feel good about myself. What do I do when I’m not skiing? I’m about to graduate in Political Science”
Aldo Grasso interviews Sofia Goggia. For an hour, the skier from Bergamo talks about herself to the Corriere della Sera journalist, in front of the audience at the Teatro Sociale, and talks about some of the deepest aspects of her being, even beyond her role as an athlete. Starting from the title of the evening, “I am free”, which must be interpreted and explored. “I feel free at times – explains the PyeongChang 2018 Olympian -. I work a lot on inner freedom, on a sensation that makes me feel good about myself. And the moments in which I felt freest are those in which I was able to perform better on skis. I think of being an adult athlete, of being aware of what I’m worth on and off the track. I feel exactly where I want to be. The emotions we experience at the gate, when we can enhance the work of all those who allowed us to be there, I know I will struggle to experience those emotions when my career ends. This is why I try to enjoy every day of this everyday life. I have always looked for speed in skiing, I was naughty as a child, I loved going faster than others. But at the same time I appreciate the slowness of living: I exploit it for a few moments, but there I build my strategy on the track.”
feel ready
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Sofia explained how different the sensations can be before a descent. “There were races in which I got out of bed and I knew I was there, aligned, with a strategy in mind. Other days in the morning I felt that I would have struggled more with myself. Sometimes I had to meditate more, stay more silent in the hospitality, because I didn’t feel aligned with myself, other times instead I joked with my skiman 10 seconds before and then danced on the track. My sense of inadequacy, however, did not I have never related it to sport, but to an emotional situation that has accompanied me for many years. Athletes make mistakes when they tie their value to the result. The paradigm is the opposite: you have your value, the race can then go well or badly, and if the victory gives you a placebo effect, this will decay shortly after. I have never felt inadequate on skis. On the track I have always had a great will. My path was different from that of others, marked by many injuries. After three crusaders one asks questions, but I always wanted to reach what I didn’t have and what I felt I could touch. This, with the sense of work typical of the Bergamo people, I went beyond the difficulties.”
sacrifices
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Sofia then reasoned with Aldo Grasso on the concept of sacrifice: “Since 2022, when I learned that sacrifice comes from “sacrum facio”, making what you do sacred, and it is not just exclusion, I understood that the sacrifices are not those of an athlete, but those of those who have a large family and a precarious job. We athletes are privileged, we have made our dream passion. It is an all-encompassing, harsh and It’s tough, but it’s so beautiful. I’m in love with my life now. What have I given up? Not to be a model, I don’t have the right femur length. Let’s say that my luck is that I live with blinders on, if I look at one thing I only see that. I feel like I haven’t given up on anything, I’ve always focused on my choices.”
the pain
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“I’ve had many injuries, nine operations – said Sofia -. Pain has been a component that has accompanied me, but physical pain is one thing and soul pain is what leaves you with wounds and significant suffering. I started hurting at 14 years old, then knees, then other areas. When I was young, injuries were an extra challenge, a way to understand the teaching, and I’ve always come back very well. Last year’s, however, was the one that I suffered more. Maybe it’s because I’m no longer a little girl, but I experienced a darkness inside me that made me think I didn’t have the strength to get out of it. But then it went well. However, I think that great traumas are the result of internal conflicts. Probably at that moment I didn’t really know what direction to take in my life, and in fact I took it. I’m sure I missed those 3 centimeters for this thing.”
fear
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“I have had various phases in which I experienced fear – said Sofia -. When I was young I hurt myself because I wanted to go beyond the limit. Then I learned to experience fear as a resource that must be listened to and now I try to understand it and use it. I was also afraid on the slopes, even in the first World Cup race last season. On the Birds of Pray in Beaver Creek for example. There was a wall that never ended, I saw girls from World Cup cry in reconnaissance. I said to my coach “Ok, I’ll take it easy”. It’s an emotion that needs to be felt. But the fear that many athletes have in common is that of winning, in my opinion.”
study and politics
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Grasso asks Sofia Goggia what she does when she isn’t skiing and isn’t busy with her activity as an athlete. “I am about to graduate in Political Science at Luiss, I undertook the path in September 2021, I only have one exam left. I felt that something was missing in my life, I have always loved studying and reading. Some athletes do it like me, the amount of hours was demanding, to take two exams before leaving for Argentina, at ten in the evening to study macroeconomics, I asked myself who made me do it. But it is a good path, valid, I gives you basics of jurisprudence, law and economics that make you better understand these complicated times. The world of sport, however, lives in a bubble of its own. Not that I’m particularly attentive, but I try to broadly follow the trends. But there is little interest, there is a lot of mistrust in the new generations. Very few athletes follow international relations, what happens between various countries. I don’t know how many athletes went to vote in 2022, there is a lot of aversion towards the parties”.
olympics
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Finally Sofia Goggia spoke about her expectations for the Olympics. “If we aren’t able to host her perfectly, we’ll host her a little Italian-style and it will be fine anyway. Cortina is a magical place, there is the old three-seater chairlift that takes you from the Duca d’Aosta to the start, and at dawn you are in silence, the Tofane are illuminated by the sun and you feel immersed in a poem. Dreams? I always dream with open eyes. But every now and then some nightmares also arrive…”.
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