TORINO 2006 PARALYMPICS WINTER GAMES March 10-19

[BOREALIS]

Francesca Porcellato: from Track to Skis

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Jan 12 2006

Interview with the Paralympic multi-medal winner, ready for the new Cross-Country challenge

AGE: 35
NATIONALITY: Italian
PROFESSION: athlete
DISCIPLINE: Cross-Country Skiing (2.5 and 5 km), after over 18 years of athletics
FIRST PROFESSIONAL COMPETITION: 1987

BEST RESULTS (athletics): 2004 world record in the Padua Marathon; Athens 2004 Paralympic Games: silver 100m and 800m, bronze 400m; European Athletics 2001: silver 200m; European Athletics 2000: silver 100m; Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games: bronze 100m; Barcelona 1992 Paralympic Games bronze 400m; Seul 1988 Paralympic Games: gold 100m and 4x100m, silver 200m, bronze 4x200m and 4x400m


Francesca, how did you start practicing sport and why did you choose athletics?

I began because it was a dream I had, I liked athletics a lot, I wanted to run. That’s how it all began: for a while I trained on my own, then I enrolled in a sports association for people with a disability and I started competing.


In athletics you won practically everything: which victory did you enjoy most?

What a difficult question! I adore all my results, because they are all fruit of sacrifice and commitment. At the moment I can tell you about my most recent ones, like when I got silver in Athens in the 800m because I had never won on an international level and getting the world record in the marathon, because it was an enormous surprise.


And when and why did you decide to shift to skiing, specifically, cross-country? Did you need new stimuli?

No, I still find athletics very stimulating, so I will carry on running. But after Athens I took a three-month pause and went on holiday; the coaches of the National team had already asked me to try because they thought I had some potential. It was a discovery for me: until then snow had been an ‘enemy’ for me, because in a wheelchair you find it limiting. Instead with the luge I realised that I had freedom on the snow too and it was great. I chose Cross-Country Skiing because in the effort you make it’s similar to athletics and the marathon.


In December, in the World Cup in Val di Fiemme, you came eight: how do you comment this result?

It was my first race on skis and went OK, I was very keyed up. I still haven’t qualified for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games by a little bit, because I fell and lost some time; in any case I’m happy, even if there is still a lot of work to do, because it’s all down to that.


Do you think you will manage to participate in the Paralympic Winter Games? What effect do you think racing ‘at home’ would have?

I hope I manage to get qualification in the next race, in Lillehammer. Torino would in any case be a new challenge, more so because, differently from other Paralympic Winter Games, I would feel the warmth of “my people”.


Have you already thought about when you will quit competitive sports? Are you attracted to sport management?

I never make plans, I decide from year to year. For now, I still want to do sport a lot, but when I stop I don’t think I’ll go into management; I would prefer to train, because there is a lot of need for coaches and there’s a need to work at the base, recruiting new athletes.


Besides sport, what other interests do you have?

I am a perfectly normal girl; of course sport takes away many hours a day and leads me to travel a lot, so when I can I try to stay at home and do the things you do at home, cooking, reading… I create some tranquillity.


Silvia Bruno