Many athletes dream of taking part in the Olympic Games.
Not all Olympians will be able to experience the games at home.
When Joel Retornaz takes on Sweden in the opening game of the men’s curling tournament on Wednesday, he will begin his second home Olympics.
He was in Turin 2006 a 22-year-old newbie. 20 years later, he is a 42-year veteran.
– The opportunity to compete in the Olympics in your home country feels unique. It feels incredible to do two of these. “I feel so privileged,” says Retornaz.
In Turin he led a young, inexperienced team that was allowed to take part in the Olympic Games as its home country. There they won, among others, against eventual gold medal winners Canada, but had to admit defeat to Sweden and Lag Peja Lindholm.
20 years later, Retornaz’s team qualified for the Olympic tournament based on ranking points and holds a higher class.
Despite a significant increase in quality The team struggled to reach the major championships. At best there were five bronze medals, most recently at the European Championships in Finland, which was his 17th European Championships. However, there they managed to defeat Lag Edin in the basic game, but the Swedes then went on and won the entire tournament
– I don’t know how many times I’ve played against Niklas over the years. “There are a lot of them and I’m pretty sure he won the most,” said Retornaz, who believes Sweden, the reigning champions from Beijing, have a great chance of defending their title.
But he and his team will do their best to put an end to it.
What would a medal mean to you here in Cortina?
– That would mean everything. I’ve been in this business for so long and have been on the losing side so many times. “Now we have a good team that can compete and a medal here on home soil, yes, that would mean everything to me,” says Retornaz, who is not the only Italian competing in his second Olympic Games on home soil. The then 15-year-old short track rider Arianna Fontana was also in Turin 20 years ago.
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