Panathlon International

The meeting of the Science, Culture and Education Commission (CCSE) of Panathlon International (PI) took place on-line on 13 February.

All the members were present:  Fabio Figueiras, Kole Gjeloshaj, Raffaella Masciadri, Carla Spielmann besides the President of the CCSE Antonio Bramante, the International President Giorgio Chinellato, the IB member Christian Garrabos, the Secretary General Simona Callo and Debora Quercioli (General Secretariat).

Various topics were discussed including changing the name of the Commission, introducing the word ‘research’, planning webinars, producing contributions to write articles for communication, and collaborating with other organizations.

It was proposed to organize the first webinar on the topic of physical activity for the second half of March, with Dr. Victor Matsudo as guest speaker, and to continue with bi-monthly editions in the following months. The creation of a Club Prize for the best project on the Congress theme was also proposed, to be awarded in 2026.

The International President, Giorgio Chinellato, emphasized the importance of involving the Paralympic Committee and the IOC, while President Bramante invited the members to express their area of specialization. The discussion also touched upon an innovative project in collaboration with Belgian universities to create a network of young students committed to ethics in sport, which has already been approved by PI. 

Finally, the problem of the language barrier in webinars was addressed, proposing to translate materials and adapt formats to reach a global audience. The meeting concluded with a commitment to continue the discussion via email.

The Special Olympics Winter World Games in Turin are approaching, but while waiting for the opening ceremony that will take place on 8th March, the 25th of February was a very important day.

In fact, the Special Olympics Community Run took place simultaneously throughout Italy.

20 cities, 1000 runners, half of whom were Special Olympics athletes, carried the Olympic flame through the various cities, involving schools, associations and volunteers to send a very strong message of awareness and inclusion throughout the country.

It was even more special in Venice, where the Olympic Torch is traditionally escorted by the police. In fact, the torch was carried from the Venice Police Headquarters, where the police and local police runners met with the special athletes and volunteers of the Venice Marathon to welcome the arrival of the lantern and watch the Prefect light the torch. From here the procession started, escorted as always, and carried the fire of Olympia to the Campo della Salute. Here, in front of the stage where the authorities were seated, the Olympic brazier was lit and, with the blessing of the Patriarch, the torch was returned to the police headquarters by water, as tradition dictates.

On the stage of authorities, representing Panathlon, was the President of Panathlon International, Giorgio Chinellato. The President of the Panathlon Club Venice, Diego Vecchiato, and the past president, Giuseppe Zambon were also present.

President Giorgio Chinellato's presence was important and greatly desired and testifies to his sensitivity towards the world of Paralympic sport. It's a feeling that was born the first time he had to deal with special athletes in the pool, when in the water these extraordinary people find their magnificent dimension and move with ease. And it's a bond shared with his friend and panathlete Elisabetta Pusiol, Director of the Veneto Region of Special Olympics Italy, who was also present in the front row at the event.

The friendship is long-standing, and their shared passion for the world of Paralympic movement has constantly strengthened it, offering them many magnificent moments in which the athletes have been able to pass on valuable lessons and truly extraordinary emotions.

It is certainly no coincidence that the President wanted to keep the delegation for Paralympic sport for himself. "I have always been close to the extraordinary world of Paralympic athletes, magnificent people. Elisabetta Pusiol, Director for the Veneto region of Special Olympics, and I have been friends since our school days, and over time we have shared many occasions when we have worked for special athletes, all very exciting. Among many other episodes, I fondly remember an improvised fundraising to enable our Italian team to fly to the World Championships in Mexico in 2004, and a magnificent parade in Venice with athletes from all over the world parading in front of the stage in Piazza San Marco, with the banner of the Panathlon Club of Venice-Mestre bringing the procession to a close. Working with Paralympic athletes is wonderful, and what we receive in return for our work, what we learn from them, is priceless to say the least."

So, let's all get ready to support the Italians at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin, which will certainly be a magnificent event.

The road to give the right visibility to the extraordinary people who train hard every day and give their all in the competitions they take part in is still long, but Panathlon is at their side and at the forefront of this noble battle, whose work and values it fully shares.

You can follow all the events of Special Olympics Italy on the website of the association or on its Facebook page.

by Mario Boranga

Communication delegate Panathlon Club Pordenone

The meeting of the President's Committee took place online on 31 January, during which several important topics were discussed for the future of the organisation.

Among the main items on the agenda, the PI's network of international relations with the most important associations involved in the promotion of Fair Play was discussed in depth. In this context, the appointment of Past President Pierre Zappelli as our representative on the CIFP Board was made official.

The cooperation with the ISOH (International Society of Olympic Historians), CIFP (International Fair Play Committee) and CIPC (Pierre De Coubertin International Committee) associations was confirmed. They are among the PI partners in the organisation of a special event in connection with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In this context, the date of the meeting between PI delegation and the Director of the IOC Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage was also confirmed for 13 March to introduce PI projects.

Ample time was dedicated to Erasmus projects. Fabio Figueiras, delegate for Erasmus projects, illustrated in a report, the opportunities that emerged during the Info Sport Day. Meanwhile, the President of District Belgium, Paul Standaert, together with Yves Vanden Auweele, joined the meeting and updated the Committee on the progress of the MAISI/DAISI project, which has already been approved by PI and further information will be provided to clubs.

Another important initiative was the project, endorsed by PI, suggesting asking UNESCO to proclaim 25 September as International Youth Sport Day for Education and Growth.

In addition to the international cultural activity, the request of some clubs to be able to voluntarily pay the fee proposed by the IB was welcomed, after the negative outcome of the vote on the fee increase during the General Assembly in December.

During the meeting, some delegations were redefined, including those related to Fair Play and PI Charters. The composition of the CCSE (Culture Commission) and the working group dedicated to expansion were confirmed.

The Committee announced, with great satisfaction, the birth of two new clubs: one in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and one in Frosinone (Italy), marking an important step forward for the organisation's growth. The issue of printing and translating the official magazine was also discussed as part of a cost containment policy.

The Committee was very pleased to announce the creation of two new clubs, one in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and one in Frosinone (Italy), marking an important step forward for the growth of the organization.

Other points were discussed and deliberated. The decisions, once final and translated, will be published as usual in the reserved area of the PI site.

by Alberto Bortolotti

The remembrance of Drazen Dalipagic cannot begin except with a kind of basketball homily by the greatest guru of their basketball, the Julian/Slovenian Sergio Tavcar: “... three champions that cannot be discussed were Dragan ‘Cobra’ Kićanović, Dražen ‘Praja’ Dalipagić and Vlade Divac. All of these were players who on the day gave the distinct feeling of being unmarkable, a characteristic that distinguishes the champion from the mere champion. On these players my conviction is of the 'Taucerian' type, that is, absolute.”

Speaking of definitions, in Belgrade Partizan fans used to call them “Kića i Praja, pobede bez kraja” (Kića and Praja, endless victories). And, as for personality, here's-perhaps-an urban legend: the story goes that, at some point during preparation, Dalipagić went to the granite Professor Nikolic, his coach, on behalf of the entire team. “Coach, maybe it would be better if you also listened to what we want. Because you the championship without us will not be able to win it, while we, even without you, could probably still win it.”

As for the 70-point record, I remember well that January 25, 1987, the day of 70 points. I was in the newsroom at Rete 7, waiting to make the full-bodied Sunday “Sport Today,” the sports newscast that could not avoid dealing in depth with Bologna, Fortitudo and Virtus (all playing on Sunday afternoons, the “lunch match” and “football night” were stuff, perhaps, from the NFL). A few weeks earlier we had called MartyByrnes, the algid, off-white foreigner brought in by a somewhat retreating Avvocato Porelli and who would, that Sunday at Arsenal, mark Praja Dalipagic (barring rare, unplanned moments in the zone), a “tristo”: a Bolognese adjective meaning poor. He raged about it but eventually agreed with us, in spite of the treatment that coach Sandro Gamba applied to that rebellious and uncombative outfielder. At the end of the season he was dismissed.

It amazed the scoreboard that said 70 points (the 3-point shot had come just three seasons earlier, but I almost think he would have made that haul anyway!) however, it did not amaze the hail of blows that sunk the black Vs among the Venetian calli. After all, Dalipagic was the one who “chewed up” 600 solo shots at the end of each practice, so much so that he had the custodian give him a copy of the gym keys because he, the Bosnian from Mostar when Bosnia-Herzegovina was still perhaps a region of the Titino empire, wanted to exercise the basically peculiar characteristic of basket ball: the basket, indeed. It's called “basket ball,” this sport, I often remind my friend Ettore Messina of it, too. And of the deep essence of that sport Dalipagic was probably the most faithful, attentive interpreter, a kind of guardian of the Holy Grail: the shot, in its absolutism and in its technical and stylistic purity. A living manual. 

In 1987 Praja had just retired from the “plavi” national team, which then defunct, as an entity, in '91 in Rome when Slovenia came out first from Yugoslavia and Jure Zdovc was removed, as if he were a thief, from the Capitoline retreat. His generation predates the glittering generation that so many remember: the Petrovic, Kukoc, Radja, Savic, Divac, Danilovic, Djordjevic, and 100 others we could name.

All I know is that, for us high schoolers discovering color on TV and irreverent commentaries from Koper/Capodistria, almost always with the unmistakable voice of Sergio Tavcar, there was a trimurti. The Three Gods of the time were Mirza Delibasic, point guard, DraganKicanovic, guard, Drazen Dalipagic, wing. 

Ah, if you don't believe in the possibility of 70 points “without 3-point shooting,” read this Udinese anecdote. 46 points, then the next week 50, “without 3 point line.” But let's go in order.

During one of the shooting sessions the young assistant coach Colosetti had occasion to tell the champion from Mostar that before him he had known and coached one of his peers, Walter Szczerbiak. 

“In a shooting session with Praja I told him that I had worked with another great shooter in Udine: Walter.” Lapidary was the response of the astonished Dalipagic: “Yes, great hand, but I am more complete because I also play one-on-one and create my own shot.”

The coach again: “Drazen took us to A1 by winning the top scorer title and scoring 46 points against Perugia and 50 against Reggio Emilia in the last two decisive games, when there was still no three-point shooting and he was already 32. Forty years ago, the career did not last as it does now until almost forty years of age. Five or six years earlier Dalipagic was at his peak, when he was winning World Championships and Olympics he was infeasible. He was in the prime of athletic vigor at 27 or 28, while at 32 he was playing technique in shooting. He was not a great defender, but, when stimulated, he also defended.”

Translated with DeepL.com