At 16, Giulia Ghiretti, a promise of gymnastics, has an accident in training. Instead of giving up on her behalf, she reacts and decides to take up swimming at a competitive level
How is that jump, Giulia? Il Barani (pronounced with the «i» accented) ? «Ah, count: a somersault in the air, forward, with a half turn, a half twist». This is how Giulia Ghiretti, born in 1994, still describes it. Naturally. An “easy” jump, tried hundreds of other times. Instead, the unpredictable happened during that training session on January 4, 2010: the force of the trampoline that projects her upwards concentrates all in one point and makes her vertebra explode into pieces.
And she, at 16 and one step away from the World Championships in the specialty, finds herself in a Neurosurgery ward. Emergency intervention and unappealable verdict. “You’re not going to jump again. And you won’t even walk again.” These are her words from her mother, because it is Giulia herself who wants to know by making her promise not to tell lies. In those few seconds of flight, a girl full of life thus passes from a promise of gymnastics to a wheelchair.
The results and the book
All finished? Not at all. Giulia continues to fly, but in the water of the swimming pools. First those of rehabilitation. Then Olympic. Giulia «the butterfly», as one of his coaches dubs it for the extraordinary results he obtainsovercomes barriers, physical and psychological, e he manages to win 23 international medals between the Paralympics, World and European Championships and to break record after record. Her Her specialties are the 100m breaststroke, of which she is the reigning world champion, and the 50m butterfly, of which she holds the world record in short course. A tough girl, Giulia. Agonism and spirit of competition are in his blood. For her, that jump did not mark a watershed. «There is not a Giulia before the jump and one after. It’s always me », she says with conviction.
«It’s always me» is also the title of the book (Edizioni Piemme) that the girl from San Ruffino, a hamlet five kilometers away in the countryside south of Parma, wanted to write by giving in to Andrea Del Bue’s proposal «first a “stalker” journalist and then a friend» as she recounts with a laugh.
The complaint
A world championship final effort? “No, worse. Absolutely worse. The way I am made, talking about myself is difficult. I’m not interested in making Giulia known as such. Ma
if the book somehow managed to break down the walls I’ve come up against, if it served to make other people’s lives easier then absolutely yes, it would still be worth writing».
Because the story that unfolds in the waters of the pools of many cities, in Italy and around the world (even in the midst of the Covid pandemic), is not only the testimony of an extraordinary path of resilience but also a denunciation: «Too often disability is caused by our surroundings: steps, services that don’t work, cultural and physical barriers». And an incitement to go beyond appearances: «I am convinced that disability scares. There are so many things that we may take for granted. One sees a person in a wheelchair and thinks: but he’s just sitting. Instead there are many things that are not known. And everything you don’t know is scary.”.
Some “lessons” to learn
There’s a lot to think about and a lot to learn: the effort to carry on sports and study at the same time (between a training and a competition, Giulia also graduated in Biomedical Engineering); a family who knew how to team up around her (“they never told me ‘no, you can’t do these things anymore’ but always ‘let’s find a way to do them’ and they never made me weigh anything”); a world, that of Paralympic sport, with many prestigious characters but just as many aspects that are not exactly “idyllic”; positivity and determined character of a girl despite all the uncertainties and fears of a young age.
Any regrets? “No,” she replies without hesitation. «I consider myself lucky, I do what I like: swimming. Not so for everyone. Of course, I had to create my own way to get there, but this was also the beauty».
Dreams in the drawer
Giulia has many dreams in her drawer. The World Cup in Manchester in August stands out on the sporting horizon. And, in 2024, the Paralympics in Paris. As an athlete, she still has her say. «I want to give my best. The first goal is definitely to lower my race times. medals? You always have to see who you have in the next lane, then anything can happen in that moment there ». Meanwhile, Giulia is also thinking about other outlets: the master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and the competition in the Police. A great conquest to which she too contributed, fighting together with other Paralympic athletes. In fact, until last August, when a special decree came into force, they were precluded from entering the ranks of the State Police despite being members of its sports group, the “Fiamme Oro”.
«I believe that in life it is important to create more alternatives. My accident changed many things for me physically. Many doors have closed but I think many opportunities have also opened for me that I would not have had before. Certainly you need to know how to open those doors and seize those opportunities».
February 22, 2023 (change February 22, 2023 | 2:46 pm)
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