You can "win" even finishing in 37th place.
And one can deserve the standing ovation of the French public even after a match on the 64-point draw. A matter of fair play.
Of style.
Of values.
Beauvais, Women's Epee Under 20 World Cup event.
Mariaclotilde Adosini, born in 2005 of Polisportiva Scherma Bergamo, is one of the Italian athletes in the competition.
You played in a good group, ending with five wins and a "4-way defeat".
She is 12th in the direct elimination table, she passes the first round by right and to enter the best 32 she crosses Juliette Baudinot, standard bearer of France.
It's a balanced, fought, point-to-point assault: Mariaclotilde wins it 15-14, after living it with bated breath, releasing her cry of joy after the hit of success.
But, then,
at the end of the 64 draw, the call arrives: "Adosini in the direction of the tournament".
What happened?
Simple, there was a (very human) mistake, as serious as you want but that only "those who don't do" will never commit.
The referee, on the score of 13-12 for the transalpine, had assigned 2 hits to Mariaclotilde, and not just one.
There and then, in the emphasis in the match, no one noticed.
And when the defeated French athlete pointed it out, and the video confirmed the mistake, it was already too late, at least according to the regulation.
Yet for fair play it can never be too late.
The tournament director explains to Adosini: "You won the bout. According to the regulations, there would be no going back.
erasing the referee's mistake". At the end of the day, what happens at this point was told by Mariaclotilde in the first person: "The news took me by surprise, unprepared.
And for a moment so many thoughts crowded my head.
But what mattered most to me at that moment, so much so that I prevailed without any hesitation, was choosing what was the morally right action to take.
Although it might seem easy to accept the already proclaimed victory, I felt that going back to the platform, to re-dispute that last minute, would have been more fair towards the opponent, in respect of our sport.
I lost, patience.
I would do it again.
Because the nature of this choice is due to the teachings received from my family,
to repeat the ending of an already won match.
This time he loses it, because it happens in fencing.
The opponent hugs her.
The audience applauds her.
Before the finals they called her to the center of the main parterre, next to an icon of French sport which is the champion Laura Flessel: lights on, awards ceremonies, more applause.
Mariaclotilde smiles, a little embarrassed.
As can happen to those who feel they are experiencing a special moment after simply following the normality of her being.
Her style.
Her values.
Her fair play.
In seven (her) words from her: "What fencing has taught me".
to repeat the ending of an already won match.
This time he loses it, because it happens in fencing.
The opponent hugs her.
The audience applauds her.
Before the finals they called her to the center of the main parterre, next to an icon of French sport which is the champion Laura Flessel: lights on, awards ceremonies, more applause.
Mariaclotilde smiles, a little embarrassed.
As can happen to those who feel they are experiencing a special moment after simply following the normality of her being.
Her style.
Her values.
Her fair play.
In seven (her) words from her: "What fencing has taught me".
next to an icon of French sport such as the champion Laura Flessel: lights on, awards ceremonies, more applause.
Mariaclotilde smiles, a little embarrassed.
As can happen to those who feel they are experiencing a special moment after simply following the normality of her being.
Her style.
Her values.
Her fair play.
In seven (her) words from her: "What fencing has taught me".
next to an icon of French sport such as the champion Laura Flessel: lights on, awards ceremonies, more applause.
Mariaclotilde smiles, a little embarrassed.
As can happen to those who feel they are experiencing a special moment after simply following the normality of her being.
Her style.
Her values.
Her fair play.
In seven (her) words from her: "What fencing has taught me".
Speaking of examples, here's a special one: Mariaclotilde Adosini, congratulations!
Under 20 World Cup in Beauvais.
You don't need too many words, just read … Loyalty, Fairness, Probity.
W the #Sport that respects itself, W the #Fencing pic.twitter.com/xwBZTY34RY
— Andrea Abodi (@andreaabodi) February 22, 2023
ANSA Agency
Fencing: Vezzali, "well done Adosini, sport teaches life" - Sport
"Bravissima": Valentina Vezzali, legend of Italian fencing and agonist par excellence, on the phone with ANSA comments on Mariaclotilde Adosini's fair play gesture in France last Sunday when, once she won her match, she agreed to... (HANDLE)
"
It is right to say thank you more than once to Mariaclotilde
.
For that wonderful gesture, as a true ambassador of the values of our sport, and no less also for the sobriety with which she is experiencing this sudden and very pleasant moment of great media attention". The president of the Italian Fencing Federation, Paolo Azzi, writes in a private letter addressed to Mariaclotilde Adosini, to her parents and to Polisportiva Scherma Bergamo, to congratulate the splendid gesture of fair play in the women's epee Under 20 World Cup event held in Beauvais, France: the blue, decreed winner for an referee error, he agreed to return to the platform for the last jab and lost, to the applause of the audience "Your choice to 'give up' a result now acquired, in terms of the regulation, and that no one would have taken away from you,
is more important than a victory", Azzi's words in a passage of his letter to Mariaclotilde. "The courage to sacrifice a success on the altar of loyalty, of the highest values that our sport teaches us, recognizing human error that a referee can commit (and not "take advantage of it"), is an extraordinary example for all of us who, as soon as we heard the news of what happened, even from afar applauded your decision with pride and emotion.
Just like the French public did - continues Azzi -.
Nonetheless, I was struck and made proud by your words, reported on our federal website which I will keep as a precious treasure for the style, elegance and sobriety of phrases that are as proud as your gesture". "As president of the Italian Federation Fencing,
as a former athlete and international referee, as a person born and raised on the platforms just like you, I feel the duty to say 'thank you'.
You have best represented our colors and I want to pass this gratitude on to your family, your teacher and your club.
Fencing is the sport of values and you have been our ideal ambassador", concludes Azzi.
