"You cannot chase dreams with your feet on the ground. We are ready to fly". The ambitious claim summarises the content of a presentation in great style: six months away from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Italian Team has unveiled various aspects connected to the Italian mission ahead of the XXXI edition of the Summer Olympic Games. Presentations, data and numbers, together with an evocative preview of Casa Italia, feather in the cap of an expedition that intends not to leave anything to chance.   Carlo Mornati, Vice Secretary of CONI and Head of Olympic Preparations, took care of introducing the open day to Presidents, Secretaries and coaches of the Federation, an exhaustive synthesis of the teamwork that is destined to mark the movement towards the five-circle Olympic event, which will begin on 5th August, with 21 August as the expected closing date.  There are 133 athletes who are already sure they will fly to Brazil.

Mornati (in the Mezzelani-GMT photo) throws down the gauntlet towards the awaited event, representing - with pride - the sense of belonging of the entire Italian delegation that is about to represent its Country. "Participating to the Olympic Games has considerable emotional implications. 6,500,000 Euros have been allocated by the Olympic committee, and if we add the 1,000,000 Euros destined to the promising Olympic athletes of 2015, which reached 818 athletes, we get to a total of 7,500,000 Euros in study bursaries. Nearly 500 members of the Italian national teams benefited from a contribution by CONI in these 16 months. Olympic preparation, always thanks to the contribution set aside by the Board, was able to allocate  1,800,000 Euros for special projects. They have been used mostly to participate in the test events in Rio, to make research programs and to organise ad hoc collectives. Six million Euros have been spent on the Olympic preparation centres. One must follow these 16 months for the great financial efforts made towards Olympic preparation in the guise of targeted "surgical" interventions. Rio will be the first edition of a South American Olympic Game, for the first time the Games will take place in the middle of winter. From a technical point of view, not much changes, but from a physical adaptation perspective the sun sets at 5:30 pm, which means that all the federations and sports that are used to organise a day spread over a long period of time, one must rethink training based upon this shorter day. Broadcasting needs will also impose us to adapt: for athletics, for example, there are 13 finals in the morning, whereas the finals for swimming will take place at 10:00 pm. I wish that you will be able to organise your teams in such a way that they can adapt in the best possible way. We go and take part in the Olympics, which are a wonderful thing, and therefore it is better that other people get stuck in difficulty, while we go prepared with the idea of going to do something extraordinary".

President Malagò highlighted the will of CONI to prepare the Olympic "away games" in great detail.  "This is Mornati's moment and the moment of his amazing team. A seminal moment in our life as sport executives, a clear passage within this four-year period.  I think that we have prepared it with the greatest passion and devotion, also allocating all the resources possible. In all honesty, the team we are sending over, both numerically and in qualitative terms, would already have a strong profile if three of the other four teams that are still competing for qualification could embark with us on the plane to Rio. When I was elected, I remember very clearly that amongst the many things I said, I lack everything but courage, of not being judged by the medals that we will win at the Games, but, I hope, for other things. This does not mean taking a step back from my responsibility. We have an Olympic program that penalises us tremendously because of the absence of female team foil and of team sabre, which is the current world champion, but I am convinced that we will do well even leaving this situation aside: in London there have been disciplines that did less well but are extremely trusted on a sporting level. In these years I have not stopped talking for a single day to federal presidents, secretaries and coaches, to understand how the progression towards qualifying was going. A hug to Malori, vice world champion, who is one of our great hopes. It is the right moment to send him our message. The type of work we carried out (I think of Roberto Fabbricini, who has always been a crucial connection) is by far the best card we can play to be always more credible, also and especially in our candidature to Rome 2024. In Rio, behind the standard-bearer and Carlo Mornati, there will be only athletes and coaches. I think of the ambassador group: you are the mayors of Casa Italia. For us, it will be crucial to receive in the best possible way all international stakeholders. We will inaugurate Casa Italia on 3 August with an invite, by Renzi and me, that has already been dispatched to all IOC members and to all International federation presidents, with a concert of Gigi d'Alessio, an Italian dinner, a unique and rare occasion to better present our Olympic candidature."

The concept was reiterated by the words of Secretary General Roberto Fabbricini. "You can imagine with how much emotion I am here to speak to you today about this great adventure that is called Rio de Janeiro. With a bit of experience, I followed fairly closely the activity of CONI and of the federations in these three and a half years and I must assure you that Olympic preparation has been made in an exceptional way, dealing with all aspects of the away game. They all did an excellent job.  I must congratulate the Istituto Scienza dello Sport (Sport Science Institute) and especially congratulate the federations, as I witnessed a great unity in action and intents between CONI, represented by Carlo Mornati and his magnificent group, and the federations.  It will be a difficult and complex Olympic Game, with very dangerous opponents, and I believe that we will be able to all be together with our strength to give the best support to our athletes.  Coming back to CONI after three years and a half, I have found some regulations that extremely difficult to comply to in order to participate to the games in any capacity. I believe that the most important effort that all of us and all of you can make it to guarantee the best conditions to athletes and coaches for the competitions. We must be united and in agreement in order to ensure that athletes perceive the support of all of us, each federation looking closely after their athletes and after those of the Italian team.  I believe that at the end the result will come. We still have some ongoing qualifications, we are all optimistic because we must be so and once we have obtained the qualification of these team sports that are currently not on the list, it might then become easier to think of a good way through the Olympic tournament. Personally, I believe I have found in each federation a strong focus towards the event and a spirit of collaboration that many times in the past has not been as strong".

Anna Riccardi, Olympic Preparation executive, talked instead about the locations that are destined to house the Italian team for training, and about the Olympic village. All these were presented in detail. "It is a vast Olympic village (Italy will be at building 20, editor's note), therefore we paid particular attention to the distances to the refectory and to transports, which are essential services for our team. We will also pay attention to the planning and placement of the different groups on the basis of the different disciplines and of the competition times, so that groups don't cause disturbance one to the other. Bora Bora, Cruzeiro College, Tijuca Tenis Club, Notre Dame, Cepeusp and Unisanta (which is located in Santos, devoted to swimming and triathlon) will be our reference points for training and for the management of athletes before races".

Antonio Spataro, Chief medical officer of the Medicine and Sport Science Institute, presented instead the data relative to medical aid activities. "In 2015 we performed around 22,000 specialist interventions, examining 724 athletes of the national team, representing 28 Olympic disciplines. Thanks to our innovative screenings, from 2004 to 2014, we found 171 cases of athletes who were considered healthy but had some form of heart disease, thus avoiding any emergency interventions: this I is what we do to promote health. In Rio, in the Olympic Village, we will have 4 doctors and 3 physiotherapists available, together with cutting-edge equipment. Outside the Village, there will be a doctor and a physiotherapist, available also to support federal doctors. Zika? IOC is in close contact with the Brazilian authorities and with the WHO to set safety guidelines. We will keep everyone informed promptly, in collaboration with the Spallanzani institute of infective diseases. All athletes will undergo anti-doping tests before the Games and we will remain vigilant so that no one takes substances without our consent".

Diego Nepi, head of marketing of CONI, focused his speech on the choice of Casa Italia, reaping an admired applause from the audience. "We started with the idea of making an impossible mission happen: trying to choose a place that would emanate the values that represent Italian sport and that would be able to kindle our hearts. We wanted to also be original and creative and to stay away from stereotypes, and for this reason we chose six "ambassadors" to transmit and promote the uniqueness of being Italian: Antonio Rossi, Jury Chechi, Carlton Myers, Andrea Lucchetta, Elisa Santoni and Alessandra Sensini, together with Fiona May”.  The chef of Casa Italian will be Davide Oldani.

Danilo di Tommaso, Head of Communications, presented the numbers and trends connected to the accreditation of Italian media to the Games. "Compared to London, we registered an overall -12.42% in the assignment of IOC to CONI. This is due to different factors, amongst which the increase in accredited Countries: in Athens there were 135, in Rio 195, 44% more. We are also affected by "no shows", those who receive the accreditation but do not retrieve it, and by the "continent" issue: the Games this time will be hosted in South America, therefore there is a reduction in concessions to Europe".  The limitations were then mentioned with regard to the accredited media, in compliance with the Olympic charter, which also sets restrictions in the use of social media.