Sunday, March 12, 2006 7:54:10 PM
An interview with Gianmaria Dal Maistro
. 
Dec 21 2005
D: Do you remember when and why you started practising sport on a competitive level? Why Skiing?
R: I began skiing for the fun of it, when I was only 6 thanks to my relatives. Initially I went to a skiing school for able-bodied people. It was only years later when I was 14, to be precise, that I learnt about skiing schools for people with a disability. Not much later, I had the opportunity to join the Olympic team.
D: What was your greatest emotion when you first donned skis?
R: Most certainly the medals I won at the Paralympics and when I was given the title of Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica by President Ciampi and the Goccia award for athletic value in 2005, given to me by the CIP (Italian Paralympic Committee) and President Ciampi. To hear the President’s speeches is always an emotional experience and this time it was also a great opportunity to get to know other Olympic athletes.
D: What motivated you to take part in the Paralympics?
R: The excitement of preparing to win the race, but it must basically be for fun. I think that the day I will no longer get any kicks from skiing and enjoy it I will just stop.
D: What do you think favoured you most in competition and what gives you most problems?
R: I think that what has given me an extra push was to find myself immediately at ease with athletes with a visual impairment and having tried to be the same or better than many others. Having some limits ended up with a positive influence in the following years. What would give me problems would be being in an environment that I don’t like and that doesn’t make me feel at ease. Even though skiing is an individual sport, team spirit is very important obviously considering the guide as part of a personal team.
D: Did you participate in other sport competitions besides skiing?
R: Of course, but it was only some demonstrative races at a regional level, from 8 to 14, I practiced karate and the first races were in that period.
D: Do you have any good luck charms you take with you?
R: I still have to find a true and proper charm, even though I don’t like the idea that my performance may depend even minimally, from an object.
D: How much time do you train for and at what times of day?
R: In preparation for an important race I dedicate a lot of time to training. For the occasion of the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games I have decided to commit myself to skiing full time. I have put studying aside, at least until the end of the Olympic season. Currently my objective is to win the next Games. Training on the snow is not always possible, so alternatively my guide Tommaso Balasso and I go on ice glaciers or to gyms.
D: Do you think that the Paralympic Winter Games of Torino 2006 may be a god occasion to give more visibility to sport for the disabled?
R: I hope so: what I hope is that the press, TV and the media in general reach the levels of Salt Lake City in 2002 for an event of such an importance. At the current moment, though, there is still a lot to be done.
D: What advice would you give to person with a disability interested in practicing a sport?
R: It is within everyone’s reach, you just have to want it. Naturally it takes constancy and commitment.
D: Do you remember any funny or pleasant things that happened to you doing sport and would you like to tell us before saying goodbye?
R: An entertaining episode I can tell you was when in Nagano ‘98 after I had got off the podium, my guide Monica Martini and I were “attacked” by monkeys, one of which literally tore the medal off and ran up a nearby tree. After lots of screaming, fortunately, the monkey gave up and dropped her booty”…
Angelica Tedesco
. Dec 21 2005
D: Do you remember when and why you started practising sport on a competitive level? Why Skiing?
R: I began skiing for the fun of it, when I was only 6 thanks to my relatives. Initially I went to a skiing school for able-bodied people. It was only years later when I was 14, to be precise, that I learnt about skiing schools for people with a disability. Not much later, I had the opportunity to join the Olympic team.
D: What was your greatest emotion when you first donned skis?
R: Most certainly the medals I won at the Paralympics and when I was given the title of Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica by President Ciampi and the Goccia award for athletic value in 2005, given to me by the CIP (Italian Paralympic Committee) and President Ciampi. To hear the President’s speeches is always an emotional experience and this time it was also a great opportunity to get to know other Olympic athletes.
D: What motivated you to take part in the Paralympics?
R: The excitement of preparing to win the race, but it must basically be for fun. I think that the day I will no longer get any kicks from skiing and enjoy it I will just stop.
D: What do you think favoured you most in competition and what gives you most problems?
R: I think that what has given me an extra push was to find myself immediately at ease with athletes with a visual impairment and having tried to be the same or better than many others. Having some limits ended up with a positive influence in the following years. What would give me problems would be being in an environment that I don’t like and that doesn’t make me feel at ease. Even though skiing is an individual sport, team spirit is very important obviously considering the guide as part of a personal team.
D: Did you participate in other sport competitions besides skiing?
R: Of course, but it was only some demonstrative races at a regional level, from 8 to 14, I practiced karate and the first races were in that period.
D: Do you have any good luck charms you take with you?
R: I still have to find a true and proper charm, even though I don’t like the idea that my performance may depend even minimally, from an object.
D: How much time do you train for and at what times of day?
R: In preparation for an important race I dedicate a lot of time to training. For the occasion of the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games I have decided to commit myself to skiing full time. I have put studying aside, at least until the end of the Olympic season. Currently my objective is to win the next Games. Training on the snow is not always possible, so alternatively my guide Tommaso Balasso and I go on ice glaciers or to gyms.
D: Do you think that the Paralympic Winter Games of Torino 2006 may be a god occasion to give more visibility to sport for the disabled?
R: I hope so: what I hope is that the press, TV and the media in general reach the levels of Salt Lake City in 2002 for an event of such an importance. At the current moment, though, there is still a lot to be done.
D: What advice would you give to person with a disability interested in practicing a sport?
R: It is within everyone’s reach, you just have to want it. Naturally it takes constancy and commitment.
D: Do you remember any funny or pleasant things that happened to you doing sport and would you like to tell us before saying goodbye?
R: An entertaining episode I can tell you was when in Nagano ‘98 after I had got off the podium, my guide Monica Martini and I were “attacked” by monkeys, one of which literally tore the medal off and ran up a nearby tree. After lots of screaming, fortunately, the monkey gave up and dropped her booty”…
Angelica Tedesco
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