This morning, in Rome, the Gold Collar for Sports Merit ceremony took place, the highest recognition in Italian sports, celebrating an extraordinary 2024 for Italian athletics. The event was held in the Sinopoli Hall of the 'Ennio Morricone' Music Park Auditorium and was broadcast live on Rai 2. The protagonists of the Olympics and Paralympics, along with world champions, great coaches, sports societies, and prominent national sports figures, received the prestigious award in the presence of numerous institutional representatives. Among them were CONI President Giovanni Malagò, Italian Paralympic Committee President Luca Pancalli, Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, Defense Undersecretary Isabella Rauti, Environment Undersecretary Claudio Barbaro, and other top Italian sports officials: CONI Secretary General Carlo Mornati, Vice Presidents Silvia Salis and Claudia Giordani, CIP Secretary General Juri Stara, numerous federal presidents, coaches, and movement leaders. Among them was also Cordiano Dagnoni, president of the Italian Cycling Federation, accompanied for the occasion by Track Coach Marco Villa, previously winner of the Gold Palm for Technical Merit. The ceremony offered an opportunity to celebrate the successes of Italian athletes and Paralympic athletes who brought the Tricolor flag to wave in major world sporting events, contributing to a memorable year for Italian sports. In cycling, the Gold Collar was awarded to Vittoria Guazzini and Chiara Consonni, gold medalists in the Madison at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
In Paralympic cycling, the recognition went to Fabrizio Cornegliani, gold in the MH1 time trial at the Paris Paralympics, and Pierpaolo Addesi, National Coach for road Paralympic cycling, honored with the Gold Palm for Technical Merit. The words of President Cordiano Dagnoni: "Gathering for the Gold Collars is always an exciting emotion and confirms that sports represent one of the best assets of our Country. Cycling, once again, is a great protagonist, thanks to athletes and Paralympic athletes of technical depth and contagious joy like Vittoria Guazzini, Chiara Consonni, and Fabrizio Cornegliani. Congratulations to them and to Pierpaolo Addesi, awarded with the Gold Palm, a coach able to demonstrate his full value in a short time and who still has much to give to our movement".