The nineteen-year-old Italian from Fiamme Oro was not admitted to the state exam. The outburst on social media: “It hurts, but a fall doesn’t define who we are”
Imagine coming close to the podium at the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships at just 19 years old, achieving a prestigious seventh place in the individual general competition – the only format foreseen at the Olympics – and being unanimously considered one of the brightest talents on the international stage. Well, now imagine returning home and discovering that you are not admitted to the Maturity Exam. The reason? A four on the report card in “Sports Disciplines”. It’s not a joke, but the news of what happened to Tara Dragas, a promising member of the Italian movement, who “failed” before she could even take the exams due to a school bureaucracy that seems to have punished her competitive commitments rather than enhancing them.
the vent
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The athlete from Fiamme Oro and Asu Udine herself recounted the short circuit, entrusting the outburst to a story on her Instagram profile: “While this week I was busy representing Italy at the European Championships, I received news that I never wanted to receive: this year I will not be admitted to the final exams. It hurts, especially after having tried for years to combine sport and school with the utmost commitment”. The Friulian gymnast, born in 2007, attended her last year as a private student, colliding with an unsuspected institutional wall: “My admission was also compromised by a 4 in Sports Disciplines, the subject which more than any other should enhance the path of those who dedicate their lives to sport. Unfortunately in recent months I have not found the support, organization and preparation that I would have expected from the Volta Institute of Udine in view of such an important goal. I write these words with anger, but with bitterness, however, sport has taught me that a defeat is never the end of the journey.” No exams and a diploma postponed for the young Italian, already in the sights of the Olympic delegation for Los Angeles 2028. Dragas will be forced to repeat the year, but the composed and elegant reaction shows a maturity that goes well beyond scholastic frameworks: “Next year I will finish the fifth grade, I will face the high school diploma and I will start university. Today I bring home a disappointment, tomorrow I will pursue one more goal. Because it is not a fall that defines who we are, but the strength with which we choose to get up again.”