Vanessa Ferrari is back . The blue gymnast, who emerged from a 500-day long black hole in which she had sunk due to an Achilles tendon injury, has packaged an extraordinary feat by returning to win an international competition. After almost two years of absence from the platform, the corporal major of the Italian Army triumphed in his favorite discipline, the top specialty, on the central square of the World Cup in Melbourne, the first 2019 World Cup valid for qualifying for the Olympics Tokyo in 2020 (the others scheduled this year will be in Baku and Doha).
With 13,600 points, the 28-year-old from Orzinuovi has beaten the competitionputting in his pocket the first precious points to remove the ticket for the Japanese Games. And if she succeeds, she will be the only Italian gymnast in history to have conquered four passes to five circles, beating Monica Bergamelli and Miranda Cicognani. On the second step of the Australian podium the Puerto Rican Paula Mejias climbed with 12,533 points, while the bronze medal went to the Chinese Shiting Zhao, with a score of 12,266.
Good morning Italy 🇮🇹Today the awakening is OROOOOOO 😍🥇💙
First race after a really difficult period …
Get on board because I’ll take you to the top step❣️ # coppadelmondo # vanessaferrari… https://t.co/qmzvsuzDHL
– Vanessa Ferrari (@ferrarivany) February 24, 2019
Returning to the scene after the Achilles tendon crash in October 2017, Ferrari proved once again to be stronger than adversity and misfortunes, which in the course of her career took the form of serious injuries . Or of indelible injustices. Like that time at the London Olympics in 2012, when she got a fourth place ‘prank’ in the gymnastics final: the blue had finished fourth, but with the same score as the third, the Russian Aliya Mustafina, to whom however the judges gave the bronze medal due to a regulatory technicality (the athlete who performs a better execution prevails, compared to those who wear a higher difficulty coefficient).
“My bronze was stolen,” she said, unaware that her revenge was just around the corner. After all, what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the rest of the world calls a butterfly. And Vanessa, nicknamed “the Orzinuovi butterfly”, made up for herself two years later by winning her first gold in the World Cup in Tokyo, in the same arena where the 2011 World Cup was held and where, despite her exceptional form, he had had to raise the white flag at the last minute due to yet another injury.
Stronger than bad luck, simply unique. In Melbourne you gave us another business of yours. Welcome back @ferrarivany! 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹 #coppadelmondo #gynnastic #vanessaferrari #worldcup @Federgistici pic.twitter.com/NgdZNvlAdh
– Giovanni Malago (@giomalago) 24 February 2019
This is why the victory of now is not accidental: Vanessa had chosen Melbourne for her return to the platform after the crash of the 2017 World Cup and her resurrection arrived in Australia . The athlete from Brescia dominated a final without history, returning to the top step of the podium in an international event after even five seasons (the last time was at the 2014 European Championships when I find gold in my favorite specialty). And she couldn’t have picked a better time to be reborn, as this event awarded valuable points for qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. It would be her fourth Olympics.
