Here we are, the moment of Manuel Mateo Bortuzzo’s debut at the Paris 2024 Paralympics (here is the complete day-by-day program). For the young athlete, this marks his first participation in a Paralympic Games, although he has already competed internationally at the World Championships in Manchester 2023 and the European Championships in Funchal 2024 in paralympic swimming, without yet winning any medals.
Together with Valentina Petrillo and Maxcel Amo Manu, Bortuzzo is one of the many newcomers in the Italian Paralympic team that will capture the spotlight. All these names are making their debut at the Paralympic Games, and from their results, we will be able to infer what contribution they might make to the history of the Italian Paralympic movement.
And today it will be the turn of the young athlete from Trieste. In this guide, we will explore the schedule for today, Monday, September 2, 2024, when Manuel will debut in the pool at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
When does Manuel Bortuzzo compete today?
As we can read in our guide dedicated to the schedules and events of the Paralympics, today, Monday, September 2, 2024, there are several scheduled events in paralympic swimming. Among them, Manuel Bortuzzo will also hit the pool, competing in the 100 meters breaststroke in the SB4 category (find out what functional classifications are).
The timing for the events in which Bortuzzo will participate was revealed by the athlete himself, who communicated via a post on social media that he will compete at 11:04 in the 100 meters breaststroke heat, and possibly in the final of the same category, scheduled for 18:14.
Read also: Why are the Paralympics and the Olympics organized in the same city?
Manuel Bortuzzo: “I aim for excellence, even if I can’t win gold”
In our podcast dedicated to the stories of paralympic athletes, in January 2024, Manuel Bortuzzo joined to discuss his participation in the Paralympics: “The intention is to aim for excellence, I want my focus to be that, even though I know very well that I cannot win a Paralympic gold. But I don’t care, I go to try, to be able to say that I gave it a shot.”
This awareness came to Bortuzzo after competing against more experienced paralympic athletes: “I know he’s really strong, I know he’s really on another level compared to me, maybe first or second. But I don’t care; I go there to play on equal terms, I want to feel like them to be able to say I tried, and to be able to say ‘I enter the water to bring out the best.’ I don’t want to settle, even though I do have the awareness now, more than before, of how difficult it is. Before, perhaps until I saw certain things, I might not have fully understood it. But now that I’ve seen it, I’ve known it, even the ease with which they do things that I may struggle with a lot more, that’s when I say ‘Okay yes, it’s also right, they’ve been doing this for 15 years, it’s also normal that they are on another level.’ But it motivates me a lot, especially because the world leader, after a race we did together, told me: ‘Did you watch, did you see how it’s done?’”
Despite the media attention on Bortuzzo, the athlete has decided to use this opportunity for the benefit of the Italian paralympic movement: “I want to help raise awareness of the movement even more, but precisely because once you’ve met the people themselves… But with everyone I spoke to, I mean: ‘You deserve the world because you have nothing less than me and anyone else, you can be a lesson for many other people.’”
Read also: Paris 2024 Paralympics for beginners: history, program, sports, and athletes