On the occasion of its 50th anniversary (1966-2016), the Agnelli Foundation - in collaboration with CONI and Gazzetta dello Sport - promotes an initiative to mark the forthcoming Olympic Games (5th-21st August) and Paralympics (7th-18th September) in Rio de Janeiro.

From all the Italian athletes who win at least one medal, of any type, at Rio 2016, three athletes (or teams) of Olympic disciplines and 3 athletes (or teams) of Paralympic disciplines will receive a monetary prize from the Agnelli Foundation in addition to the prize money paid by CONI (the "Agnelli Foundation Prize").

In view of the Agnelli Foundation Prizes received, during the school year 2016-2017, the winning athletes will commit to sharing their experiences on the theme of commitment and values ​​of sport with Italian schools, following a schedule that will be established by the Agnelli Foundation according to their availability, taking into account their respective sporting commitments. The prize winners of the Agnelli Foundation will be chosen by a jury made up of the readers of the sports information website Gazzetta.it: their votes will decide which victories excited and thrilled Italians the most.

"It is a wonderful idea that makes us understand the awareness of and affinity to our world", states the President of CONI, Giovanni Malagò (photo Mezzelani/Carbone-GMT) during the presentation of the initiative, which took place today at the Casa delle Armi, at the Foro Italico.

"We believe a lot in people recounting their experiences- says the president of Fca and Exor, John Elkann - this initiative is the result of our family's great interest in the world of sport but also education and athletes sharing their experiences is the best way to combine them"

At the end of the Olympic Games (21st August) and those of the Paralympics (18th September), readers of Gazzetta.it will have three days to cast their votes and choose the names of the three winning athletes (or teams). Based on the votes received, Gazzetta.it will forward the list of the top 3 Olympic athletes (or teams) and 3 Paralympic athletes (or teams) to the Agnelli Foundation, which will award the Agnelli Foundation Prizes, based on the number of votes obtained:

Olympic Games - Paralympic Games 1st prize € 150,000 € 150,000 2nd prize € 75,000 € 75,000 3rd prize € 50,000 € 50,000

The total amount of prizes granted by the Agnelli Foundation will be € 550,000.

Each athlete or team winner of at least one Olympic or Paralympic medal can win only one "Agnelli Foundation Prize", regardless of the number of medals won during the Olympic or Paralympic Games: the votes cast through the website Gazzetta.it will cover a specific event (and thus the corresponding medal won by the athlete or team in that event). If an individual athlete or team receives votes for other medals, in collating the rankings for the allocation of the Agnelli Foundation Prizes only the medal that obtained the most votes will be considered. Where the award is granted to a team, the amount will be shared equally between all team members, and exclude any athlete who might have already won an Agnelli Foundation Prize for a medal in an individual discipline.

On receiving the Agnelli Foundation Prize, on the basis of votes cast by the jury, each athlete or team is committed to arranging together with the Agnelli Foundation at least two meetings with pupils at Italian schools of any level and type: the meeting schedule will be established taking into account the commitments of the athletes and the availability of schools, chosen so as to ensure an even nationwide distribution. Athletes' travel expenses associated with visiting the schools will be borne by the Agnelli Foundation.

But the commitment of the Foundation does not stop here: a special fund, in fact, will facilitate the preparation of athletes of the Paralympics Winter Sports Italian Federation - FISIP who will participate in the Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang in 2018.

In order to keep up with the training for major sports events, employed disabled athletes normally take unpaid leave, leading to a consequent reduction in their salaries. To overcome this problem, and following on from the initiative regarding Olympic and Paralympic Summer medals in Rio 2016, the Agnelli Foundation has therefore decided to celebrate its fifty years of business by allocating part of its extra budget for solidarity activities approved for the occasion to some disabled athletes engaged in winter sports.

The Foundation has therefore asked FISIP to identify a number of athletes (and their guide, in the case of visually impaired athletes) who deserve to receive the "training-ship", enabling them to temporarily have time off work and be able to properly prepare for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

On the basis of data received - after evaluating various factors such as different sports, the competitive commitment, the region of origin and the kind of athletes - the Foundation decided to grant, according to criteria of national balance and homogeneity, a series of "training-ships" lasting one year (from October 2016 to September 2017), to the following athletes for the following amounts, for a total of 60,000 euro:

Alex Furlan, alpine skiing, 12,000 euro Isabella Timpu, alpine skiing, 6,000 euro Nicolò Orsini, alpine skiing (guide for a visually impaired athlete), 6,000 euro Francesco Fieramosca, Nordic skiing, 12,000 euro Alessandro Carvani, Nordic skiing, 12,000 euro Manuel Pozzerle, snowboarding, 6,000 euro Roberto Cavicchi, snowboarding, 6,000 euro