CONI and Italian government join forces for the most important game: the candidacy of Rome for 2024 Summer Olympics. The Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, who made the official announcement, streamed live by RAI television, also conveyed an undoubtedly effective message. "Italy is now a candidate for 2024 Olympics, with Rome at the center of this project, but we are not going to do it just to participate, in the spirit of De Coubertin: be assured, we will do it to win". The speech was greeted with a thunderous and determined applause in the Hall of Honor of CONI, which proudly hosts illustrious guests from the world of sports: Olympic medalists of all ages, world champions, VIPs and much-decorated sports clubs. A significant cross-section of the country's sport history that saluted the Premier's announcement, made during the giving ceremony of the Golden Collars and the Gold and Silver Stars of Sports Merit.

The President of CONI, Giovanni Malagò, on stage with the Secretary General, Roberto Fabbricini, opened the day with a message of gratitude dedicated to all the members of the great sports family. "We are proud to celebrate such a number of champions, who contributed to show the successful face of the country with their victories and their example. Now, as never before, has this event become so important, especially in consideration of the current anticipations. Today, dear Premier, we have reunited our entire world in a sport celebration for all the athletes that made Italian sports so great in the last season. The Golden Collars are always very much appreciated, even by people accustomed to stand on world championship podiums and to participate in Olympic competitions. Thank you, Matteo: even in this times you have always been very close to our world, and to Undersecretary Graziano Delrio, with whom we have a friendship that goes beyond official relations". Malagò concretely summarized the concept by revealing an upcoming legislative measure concerning the resolution of the problem linked to the Federations included in the ISTAT list. Afterwards, he greeted all the attending champions devoting a special thought "to two of them: Sara Simeoni and Armin Zoeggler. Long live Italian sport". Andrea Fusco, who hosted the event along with two exceptional protagonists, Federica Pellegrini and Alex Zanardi, left then the floor to the First Minister, Matteo Renzi.

"For someone like me, who is quite hopeless at playing sports, being here is truly great. I started playing with the balls in Malago's office. That is the best office in the world, as Disneyland would be for a kid. I would not be able to perform a triathlon like the one performed by Alex Zanardi even if I was in a motorboat. Any new athlete knows that his adventure will not be an easy one: if he were looking for easiness, he would not have chosen that career. Therefore, with that same spirit we will be close to CONI from now to September 2015 to present our bid to 2014 Olympic Games. An application that fills our heart with emotion, pride and hardships. We will have the most advanced facilities in the world, thanks to our Made in Italy. We will be at the forefront of expenditure control for all the technical structures, and we will have a cutting-edge project, obviously focused on Rome. Then, it will be up to CONI and to the technical team to be able to widen the proposal put forward by the IOC. Imagine you can have a range that allows your bid to be reliable and ultimately to win. With all due respect to De Coubertin" continued the First Minister, "we are not making this bid to participate, but to win, and we will do that along with the cities that can help this project the most, starting from the territory around Rome, and then Florence, Naples and Sardinia. The detailed procedures of this will be in the availability of the organizing committee that will be instituted in January, and will be under the supervision of CONI and its President Giovanni Malagò. We will do everything it will take to make this project, that will be voted in September 2017, a project to be proud of. We might not win, we might not make it, and we might give up. It might happen. Nevertheless, when we see that we might not make it, is when we must find a new moment of life, and be determined and ready. You all know that the commitment in every single point is what makes each of us people, and not numbers. The Italian government altogether is ready to do its share. We do not want this to be an unsubstantiated project, made up of large infrastructure and big dreams, but a project made of great people, the athletes: you, who succeeded in winning medals, but also the many unknown athletes, who train themselves in dilapidated gyms in our suburbs and who might not make it to a medal, but who demonstrate with their enthusiasm that sport in Italy is more than a mere activity; it is a way of life, a way of looking at the future, a future made of pride and determination. I thank you for all of these reasons, and I tell you that we are here. I do not know if we will make it. I think so, I am very optimistic, but above all I know that this is one of the best things that we can do, because we do it for our children and for our country". The awards ceremony then began. Here is the list of the awarded people, including 18 athletes, 7 sportsmen, 21 clubs and military sporting groups and a Regional Committee.

GOLD COLLAR

Vincenzo Nibali (cycling), Giacobbe Fragomeni (boxe), Clemente Russo (Boxing), Arianna Errigo and Rossella Fiamingo (Fencing), Anna Cappellini e Luca Lanotte (Figure Skating), Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta e Francesca Schiavone (Tennis), Petra Zublasing, Giovanni Pellielo and Jessica Rossi (Shooting), Silvia Marangoni (Artistic Inline Figure Skating), Antonio Cairoli and Kiara Fontanesi (Motocross), Alex Carella (Powerboat), Assunta Legnante (Paralympic Sport), Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Giacomo Agostini and Alfredo Martini, Pier Luigi Marzorati, Gugliemo Moretti, Bruno Pizzul, Tito Stagno.
Clubs and Military and State Corps S.A: Tiro a Segno Nazionale Sezione di Parma A.S.D., Ginnastica “Francesco Petrarca” 1877, Fratellanza Ginnastica Savonese A.S.D., Canottieri Lario “Giuseppe Sinigaglia” A.S.D., Canottieri Lecco A.S.D., Tiro a Segno Nazionale Sezione di Bari A.S.D., Ginnastica Fortitudo A.S.D., Società Canottieri Milano A.S.D., Unione Ciclisti Trevigiani A.S.D., Fanfulla 1874 A.S.D. di Ginnastica e Scherma, CC Napoli A.S.D., Scherma Jesi, Fiamme Gialle, Carabinieri, Polizia di Stato - Fiamme Oro, Esercito,. GOLD STAR: Forestale, Fiamme Azzurre - Polizia Penitenziaria, Marina Militare, Aeronautica Militare. TROPHY OF CONI 2014: CONI Lazio