Every so often I’ll interrupt these scientific, philosophical or political writings to comment on current events. For example, elsewhere I’ve written about Oscar Pistorius, (the South African sprinter who runs with a pair of artificial legs), Joel Retornaz, the captain of the Italian national curling team I interviewed for Blogosfere, and even the Italian National Football Team during the world championships in Germany. As I begin work on this new site, my mind is occupied by seventeen-year-old Matteo Manassero, the most promising professional golfer currently in Italy, and one to look out for abroad.
Golf fans should not expect a technical analysis here, though if there is interest, we could return to that. Instead I take this opportunity to make a general reflection on the way the concept of performance optimization in the Italian collective is felt. Matteo Manassero is a Guinness world record holder. Last year he won the British Amateur Championship (the world’s top non-professional championship) and this year, after becoming a professional, won the Castello Masters tournament in Spain. This makes him the youngest ever winner of a European Tour competition. This article was inspired by an essay by Matthew Oxilia published in today’s Corriere dello Sport-Stadio (Italian newspaper, link in Italian) under the heading La costruzione di un campione (The Construction of a Champion). I think the central point of this article is the news that the young talent is followed by a “technical team” that helps him to improve his performance without hurting himself. This information makes me think, because the idea that performance is optimized with professional multimedia procedures is apparently worth half a page (4 columns) in a sports newspaper. That gives us an idea of our collective view of sport and the sportsperson. Between the real, DeCoubertin- style athlete (another myth we’ll talk about later!) and the “laboratory built” model, (therefore artificial, by definition unethical and anti-heroic) there is an embarrassing void. You’ll find more news about Matthew Manassero here. [Translated from Italian by Hayley Egan]
Image: Matteo Manassero, courtesy of ansa.it
