Before the stars talked to the media the Rome Golden Gala Pietro Mennea Meeting Director Luigi D’Onofrio and Fidal President Alfio Giomi talked about their expectations for tomorrow’s meeting in the Olympic Stadium. Alfio Giomi, the President of the Italian Athletics Federation (FIDAL) explained the role of the Golden Gala for Italian athletics and the Italian Federation.“The Golden Gala represents the pinnacle of our organizational capacity at International level. We will continue to promote and support it. Once the meeting is over, we will start working for the next edition. Yesterday hundreds of children took part in the Runfest This is a very important goal for us. We expect a full stadium with about 40000 spectators. We will pay tribute to Anna Rita Sidoti before the start of the competitions. We also farewell to Antonietta Di Martino, who has decided to end her career. She realized that there is an end to everything. We want to thank her for her great career”.
The Golden Gala Meeting Director Luigi D’Onofrio talked with the Italian and International media about the expectations for tomorrow’s meeting. “Athletes come from a tour de force with a lot of meetings in just a few days in Doha, Shanghai, Eugene. After Rome the Diamond League will continue with Birmingham, Oslo and New York. Athletes have understood the importance of the Diamond League. Rome has attracted a very good field with no less than 100 medallists from the Olympic Games, World and European Championships. In the 16 Diamond League competitions 13 Diamond Race leaders will compete in Rome. Dutch middle-distance runner Sifan Hassan has taken the last-minute decision to compete. The pole vault and the high jump are similar to Olympic or world finals. Gatlin will run the 100 metres. We also expect a good attendance from the crowd in the stadium and good weather”.
The press conference of the Rome Golden Gala was the opportunity to bid farewell to a great Italian jumper Antonietta Di Martino, who has decided to withdraw from athletics after a long career where she highlighted the 2009 edition of the Rome meeting with a win over Blanka Vlasic. “I want to announce my retirement from athletics. I wanted to recover my physical condition and for this reason it was not an easy decision. I realized that there is time for everything. My time is over.”
High jumpers Mariya Kuchina, Anna Chicherova, Alessia Trost and Blanka Vlasic were the first to be introduced to the international media ahead of one of the best competitions of the meeting in the historic Olympic Stadium where Stefka Kostadinova set the world record of 2.09m at the 1987 World Championships. Blanka Vlasic talked about her special feeling to be back to Rome. “I am very happy to be here to open my season. It’s like competing at home. Hopefully it will be a good competition. I cannot predict a particular result but I hope to produce a good show. It’s important for me to feel pain-free. In Rome I feel the importance of competing in such an important stadium for women’s high jump. I feel great respect for Stefka. I cannot predict that the world record will happen tomorrow but I am still motivated to keep going. We always set the goal high as long as we compete. Injuries have been a hard thing to deal with in the past three years. I am now feeling confident that I can come stronger than before”
Anna Chicherova shared the same feeling of Vlasic about the special feeling to compete in such an historic stadium. “Every time we come to this track, we understand that it’s a good venue for great results. I also cannot say that the world record can be broken tomorrow but breaking it has always been my dream since I was a child".
European indoor champion Mariya Kuchina will renew her rivalry with Italian Alessia Trost. “I am happy to be in this stadium. I don’t know if I can break the record but I want to set my goal to perform well and set my personal best”, said Kuchina. Alessia Trost, who won the European silver medal in Prague last March behind Kuchina after the jump-ff, will open her season in front of Italian fans who are expected to come to the Olympic Stadium to support her. “I share the same feeling as Mariya when she said that the goal Is to set the personal best. It’s a great honour and a dream to compete in this stadium where the world record was set in 1987 in another era of athletics”, said Trost.
Renaud Lavillenie will compete in his second competition after his sensational 6.05 jump in Eugene last Saurday. The Frenchman will be looking to avenge his defeat in the Olympic Stadium two years ago against Raphael Holzdeppe. “I did no expect to jump so high in Eugene especially after the shoulder injury. I expected to open with 5.85-5.90. I always set a goal for every competition. My aim is to have a good fight and forget the result of 2013. It’s a good venue for French pole vaulters especially after Thierry Vigneron cleared 5.91 in 1984. In the same evening Bubka did better jumping 5.94. It means that it’s a good venue to jump high. It was a lucky stadium for Thierry. I am now hoping that it will bring luck to other French vaulters".
Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce comes to Rome after her impressive world leading time of 10.81 in Eugene where six women dipped under the 10.90 barrier. “It was not a surprise that six women dipped under 10.90 in Eugene. This indicated that the World Championships will be one of the toughest onesIt will take less than 10.70 to win the gold medal. The goal for tomorrow will be to run faster than my first 200m race in Kingston (22.37). I ran a very bad race in Shanghai, then I ran 10.81 in Eugene. It’s agreat motivation to have so many fast sprinters to beat. The key is to execute the race”.
Justin Gatlin will be looking to win in Rome for the third consecutive year. He is the fastest man in the world at the moment as he clocked 9.74 in Doha and 19.68 in Eugene. “It was a good start to the season. Running fast times at the start of the season gives me a great motivation. I want to continue winning in Rome as I did in the past two years. I hope to keep this form in two months time at the World Championships in Bejing. I have already beaten Bolt. Running neck to neck against him would be a great result".
Sally Pearson is excited to run in the historic Olympic Stadium. “I am happy to run in Rome in warm weather especially because I come from freezing cold in London. It’s going to be a great race tomorrow. I am excited to run against Jasmin Stowers. I did not expect she could progress so fast". The Olympic champion will renew her rivalry against world champion Brianna Rollins: “I am excited to run in Rome. I did some good training in the past two weeks. I trained very hard in the last couple of weeks to be ready for this meeting. I have already compete against Brianna Rollins in the college competitions. I know her very well and I expected her to run such fast times".
The big star of the meeting will be Pedro Pablo Pichardo who jumped 18.06 in the first leg of the Diamond League in Doha and then improved his lifetime best to 18.08m in Avana last week. “It will be my first time in Rome. I hope to produce a good show. When Jonathan Edwards broke the triple jump world record I was a child. He was not the only jumper who inspired me. In Cuba there were many compatriots who were an inspiration like Ivan Pedroso and Yoelbi Quesada".
Christophe Lemaitre will run for the second time in the 200m in Rome. “I am happy to be in Rome again. I worked very hard with my coach. The 200m distance can become the best distance for me to set fast times".
Diego Sampaolo
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