The Taranto 2026 adventure begins. The flag of the Mediterranean Games landed in Fiumicino this afternoon, waved by Rinaldo Melucci, mayor of the Apulian city that will host the event in four years, receiving the baton from Oran 2022. Receiving the blue banner with the three rings, which landed together with the Italian team that had returned from Algeria and was led by CONI Secretary General Carlo Moranti and Head of Mission Giampiero Pastore, were the President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò; the Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Manlio Di Stefano; and the Vice-President External Relations and Sustainability of Aeroporti di Roma, Veronica Pamio.

'The flag of the Mediterranean Games is not only symbolic,' Malagò emphasised at a press conference at Fiumicino's Terminal 5. From now on, there is us, with all the burdens and all the honours of candidacy. If you look at the roll of honour of the event, I think none of the champions of Italian sport is missing. I am thinking, for example, of Pietro Mennea, Alessia Filippi, and Federica Pellegrini: this is the best wish I can wish Italy and Taranto for the next edition'.

'It is a good moment for Italian sport, and I want to congratulate the athletes. It is a pleasure for us, as Farnesina, to support the sports movement and the Mediterranean Games. Whichever way you look at it, sport is an asset to the country. It is welfare, GDP, soft power, diplomacy: thanks to sports, you can speak all the world languages, said Undersecretary Di Stefano.

'We are proud to be able to put ourselves at the disposal of Italian sport, of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and more generally of the values of sport. We want to work as a system. We want to do our part in promoting Italy's excellence abroad,' said Veronica Pamio.

Carrying the flag to Italy was Mayor Melucci: 'The Mediterranean Games will change the destiny of an entire community. We are convinced of that. Taranto is no longer the city of Ilva, but a city that has moved on and wants to prove it through sport as well. This event is not just a sporting event,' continued the first citizen of the Apulian city. 'In 2019, the candidature hypothesis was born, then one day, Giovanni Malagò called me and said: 'We want to stand the city on our shoulders, we want to do something for Taranto'. I want to thank him, Carlo Mornati and the entire CONI structure. They have set up an excellent system, proving that we are good when we work as a system. Coni has excellent managers capable of making the sports system run great'.

Also returning from Algeria was International Committee President Davide Tizzano. 'We have been working for more than three years on the Taranto 2026 project. We have clear ideas about what we want to do, and I thank the Apulian institutions because they have fully entered into the mission of the Games. It is not only sport. We are also acquiring geopolitical centrality: Italy is an important reference point for all 25 countries. It is an opportunity to reaffirm our reliability and consistency'.

Tizzano then honoured Malagò for the victory of the Italia Team - represented today in the conference by Apulian athletes Maristella Smiraglia (taekwondo), swimming gold medallist Simone Stefanì and football silver medallist Gabriele Guarino - in the Oran 2022 medal competition.

'If you win the medal table for the fifth consecutive time, it may seem like a foregone conclusion, but it is not. On the contrary, winning is getting more complicated because the international calendar is packed. And if we had not won, someone would have pointed it out,' said Malagò. 'This event is sporting excellence. Compared to other Olympic, world and continental competitions, the Mediterranean Games may be considered of a lower technical level but represent a showcase, an opportunity more unique than rare. Not surprisingly, 24 of the 26 participating countries won at least one medal. And I would like to mention that there are France, Spain, Greece, the Balkan countries and also Turkey, where this competition is the ultimate goal'. (foto Ferraro CONI)