Taekwondo as an art of life - The story of the athlete Vito dell'Aquila, gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics

Vito dell'Aquila is a very young twenty-year-old boy who has recently realized his dream: to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in his discipline, taekwondo. When he left from his parents' house in southern Italy, among other things not very far from where I live, towards Tokyo, his dream had already been achieved and he would have enjoyed his competition in the tournament with tranquility and happiness. . Confronting the strongest athletes in the world is an honor for all kids his age.

But Vito's adventure went beyond the rosiest precision and opponent after opponent reached the highest position, winning his gold medal. The enthusiasm and the desire to win surprised everyone, perhaps even the Italian athlete himself who succeeded in a feat, at least until his arrival in Tokyo. In fact, the athlete became aware of his strength and his technique race after race, and thanks to the help of his team and the enthusiasm and cheering of the other Italian athletes, he found the strength to arrive where all athletes aspire: gold at the olympics! In the final at the beginning of the third period he was down 9-8, but he was able to recover and inflict two decisive kicks on his opponent. Never give up and fight to the end. This is his mantra, decisive not to give up even when everything is damn difficult, almost impossible to overcome.

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The story of Vito dell'Aquila is also moving: farming parents have understood that Vito since adolescence suffered from a relational problem, the shyness deriving from excessive self-criticism about himself, and so they decided to enroll him in martial arts school, so that discipline and team feeling could unlock and provide more self-confidence. The young athlete immediately liked the environment and devoted himself with immense pleasure and joy to taekwondo up to the point of participating in regional, national and international tournaments, up to this year's Olympics.

The passion and dedication with which he has always trained is truly admirable. In the racing years of training, Vito never skipped a workout or match, despite his very young age. He dedicated the victory to his recently deceased grandfather who was his biggest fan, the one who accompanied him three times a week to training, who always cheered for him even when he was not known.

The great dream of Vito, today an athlete and agent of the carabinieri, is to become a sports journalist of taekwondo and to spread the love for this discipline to many young sportsmen, very far from disciplines such as martial arts. It is really very nice to see the passion for sport grow in such young boys and it is a wish that this is contagious and embraces as many people as possible. I am convinced that schools have an important role from this point of view, educational institutions where children spend most of their time and it is here that they should best spread this sports education, which will be reflected in social education and will help the students themselves. to find their way.

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