Italian Olympic gold medalist Gregorio Paltrinieri is one of several athletes who has continued to find a way to train with the future of the 2020 Olympic Games still in question.
Paltrinieri, 25, lives and trains at the Ostia Swim Complex, along with countryman Gabriele Detti, as they’re following the mandates from the Italian government that says sports facilities can be used “behind closed doors only for training sessions of athletes recognized as having national interest by the Italian Olympic Committee and their respective federations.”
“We want to go to the Olympics and I am still thinking that they are going to take place in August,” said Paltrinieri, who would be entering the Games as the defending champion in the men’s 1500 freestyle. “I continue to train even if it is not easy.”
Prominent figures in the sport have demanded a postponement of the Games amid the outbreak of COVID-19, including LEN and Italian Swimming Federation president Paolo Barelli.
Paltrinieri feels like most. He wants the Games to go on, but only if it’s safe to do so, which seems less and less likely as the days go by.
“If they decide to do it on the set dates, it would mean that the situation will have improved,” he said to Ansa, translated from his native Italian. “But we do not know if this emergency will have passed in August and today it would perhaps be right to postpone it. But I trust the IOC, which must decide soon. Now we need prompt responses, especially towards athletes.”
Since these comments were made, the IOC has sent a letter to all athletes setting a four-week timetable on a decision of what happens with the Olympics.
Paltrinieri is currently qualified for Tokyo in both the men’s 1500 free and the 10 km open water event despite the Italian Olympic Trials getting cancelled. In addition to winning Rio gold in the mile, he also won the world title in the event in 2015 and 2017, and in 2019, he became the world champion in the 800 free.
Italy has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus, with over 59,000 confirmed cases and 5,476 deaths. The country’s death toll is the highest in the world. They have 79.84 deaths per one million people, which is over 50 more than the next-highest (Spain, 29.43).