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Due to work problems, I leave later than I would have liked and arrive near the stadium around 6.45 pm (the program started at 6.30 pm). This time not only you can't park in what were once the stadium's parking lots, but you can't even go in that direction: I'm forced to go beyond the tennis stadium. All, of course, without warning. In the end, however, I find parking not so far away, certainly closer than when I went to see tennis.
I am very curious to see what atmosphere I will find in the stadium: the last time Golden Gala was held at the Olimpico with an attendance, three years ago, we were the outcasts of world athletics, today we are the second in the Olympic medal table. Going towards the gates there seems to be a little more people than usual, but then there is no queue at the entrance. At the first gate there is a checkpoint, but despite having a huge backpack they only ask me if I have bottles of water, and they take my word for it. At the turnstile, the stewards are only to help scan the tickets: no checks.
Heading towards the Monte Mario Grandstand (I bought the most expensive ticket, but it costs as much as one of the cheapest for football) I see a gallery of celebrities, not just sportsmen, who have made the history of the Olimpico: I don't know if it's new or it was me who had never noticed it. Before the entrance I finda bar: there is a queue and it also seems to go slow, but I am too hungry and I have to stop. The queue will last 20 very long minutes.
I go in and the stewards don't know where my sector is: I find it remembering the map when I bought the ticket. In front of me I see few people in the Tevere Granstand and I am a bit disappointed, but on the other hand the South Terrace is more than half full, even the lower part of Monte Mario is almost full and people keep coming. In particular mine is the row of latecomers: for the first half hour I will have to constantly get up to let in. I am in a great position for high jump and finishes of track races, less so for pole vaultm while I understand that I will see almost nothing of long jump, also because the landing area is covered by the metric bar. Of shot put, also on the opposite side, I will only remember when it is almost finished.
When I get to my seat, the walking race has just started: Fortunato will win with the world lead, for what it's worth, and Stano will finish third. I'm sorry I missed the Palio dei Comuni, where my daughter competed last time. Immediately after the finish, Jacobs enters the track: first he hugs Tamberi, then greets the public. High jump starts, and on each successful jump of Tamberi the terrace cheers as if he had made 2.40 (or the home team had scored). Unfortunately it will only cheer three times: 2.15 and 2.20 on first, 2.24 on second. At 2.27 the fis/rst attempt is already a clear miss, on the second his ankle collapses in taking off so much so that one fears he was hurt, the third has no chance. However, he will finish third, because at 2.27 there will be two left: Harrison wins, who after initial difficulties clears 2.24 and 2.27 with confidence.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, there is the women's PV where some big names (Stefanidi, Nageotte) are in trouble and the Italians are not mere appearance as usual. Of Bruni I see the second attempt at 4.50, just missed, but I miss the third, successful and above all her 4.60 on first. With the fact that she will pass the third attempt at 4.70 she will remain one of the last two in the race and will finish tied for second. With Morris clearing passing 4.75 and attempting 4.81 I think it's over, but it will finish after HJ, with attempts at 4.90.
The track races begin with the women's 400hs: it seems to me that Folorunso finished fourth and not seeing her in the first five I'm afraid I confused her with another one (but she is not esy to confuse), instead she was sixth, in any case below 55". After the men's 400, where it was hard to recognize the athletes dressed all alike and a tactical women's 1500 there is one of the key competitions for us (even if not Diamond League): the men's 200, with the three Olympic champions. Patta has a strong start and at the beginning of the straight he seems to be able to fool the other two, then he gives in. Seeing Bednarek win with 20.01 and Tortu third, one thinks he had done better than 20.40.
Immediately after comes the race that will give the most emotions: the 800 women. Mu advances with disarming ease, she seems to be walking. Bellò runs on the lead: one wonders if she will hold up, instead she sprints again in the final and finishes third. It is immediately clear that she has gone below 2', but she is even below 1'59"! In the men's long distances there is a reversal of roles: the Ethiopians win in 3000 steeplechase, Kenyan in the 5000. In the former at the beginning, as often happens, we have a "black" group in front and a "white" group behind. Then the groups mix and the two Italians, Abdelwahed and O. Zoglami, close with two exceptional times, 8:10.29 and 8: 11.00, which will pass completely unnoticed (it must also be said that if the speaker had talked about it, I might not have heard him, one couldn't hear well). In the middle there was the women's 200 race, perhaps the one with the most qualified participation. The big names do not disappoint (apart, partly, from Miller), with Jackson below 22 "and Asher-Smith in recovery, Kaddari instead disappointing.
After the 100hs, in which Camacho-Quinn beats the meeting record that dated back to the first edition, only the final jumps of women's LJ are left of field events. As I said, live you do not understand anything (from my side) and also not much from the monitor. It closes with what should have been the key race,100, and instead it is one of the lowest level: only Kerley is left who in fact wins in 9.92, with the second at 10.14. Ali finished sixth in 10.25, a result that a few years ago we would have considered satisfactory even if he had been the best Italian, instead of the fourth one.
I go out thinking that if only last year someone had told me that one day I would see five Italian Olympic champions in less than an hour, plus a sixth on the sideline at most I would have thought it would happen in a distant future, and putting together champions of different Olympics. I would have considered crazy even those who had told me that we would have four podiums in the Diamond League (even if one in an extra race) despite an important absence, and on some we would have even turned up our noses
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