11/06/2025
An article by Antonella Peterle Bellutti in the daily newspaper Domani, 10 june 2025
"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" from the Gospel according to Matthew (19,24). From the news of the upcoming CONI elections, however: "It is easier for a woman, a former athlete, with high-level management experience to debut in politics and become Mayor of Genoa, rather than President of the Italian National Olympic Committee." If common sense had prevailed, Silvia Salis could have broken that glass ceiling (one of the few still remaining): a top thrower, national advisor in the Athletics Federation, young deputy vice-president of CONI in the current four-year term, she represented the perfect profile for an endorsement in the name of change and of what happened a few months ago at the IOC (International Olympic Committee) with the election of Kirsty Coventry thanks to the support of outgoing president Thomas Bach. Instead, surprisingly, she ran as mayor of the Ligurian capital: we will never know if she did it because she saw a more secure future in politics than she saw in sports politics. It is however presumable that she would have preferred to be the absolute protagonist in her environment, the one that has so far catalyzed her interest, in which she has grown, developed skills and awareness of bringing added value. Instead, she changed direction towards a new horizon and won. The loser is CONI, which misses another opportunity to take a step towards modernity by letting the game for the presidency be played with the usual scheme: eight candidates for the top position, all men who are not exactly young. This demonstrates that only those who over the centuries (amen) have carved their name in the rock of the impregnable fortress through the drop of belonging can aspire to lead the sport. Of belonging to what?
It was July 18, 2018 when a piece of news should have shaken the foundations of the Italian sports world and instead it almost went unnoticed: Enrico Cataldi, former Carabinieri general retired after a life spent fighting terrorism, called to the CONI prosecutor's office by the then newly elected President Giovanni Malagò to lead a historic reform of sports justice, resigned. The motivation, not at all sibylline, spoke of a powerful lobby within CONI, a rubber wall that opposes any change: to make it even more explicit he went so far as to state that, despite a life spent trying to do justice and resolve very complicated cases, he had to acknowledge that, in sport, the undertaking exceeded his strength. A short introduction to recall a striking fact and to underline that the voting methods for the CONI top management involve only the great electors, 81 in total, including the Presidents of the 50 national Federations, 15 representatives of athletes and technicians, 3 representatives of the Associated Sports Disciplines (DSA), 5 of the Sports Promotion Bodies (EPS), 1 of the Benemerite Associations, 3 of the territorial Committees, the 3 Italian IOC members and the outgoing CONI President. A restricted electoral body of a closed system where the power to change is only in the hands of those who already belong to the system.
In the 111 years of history of the Italian Olympic Committee from 1914, the year of its foundation to today, the Presidents who have succeeded one another have been 20 including the two commissioners of the war period. Giulio Onesti remained in office for 22 years (from 1946 to 1978). In the ranking of the longest-serving, Gianni Petrucci follows with 14 years (from 1999 to 2013). In third place is Giovanni Malagò with 12 years (from 2013 to 2025), now forced not to run again due to the new law on mandates, which has set a maximum limit of 3 for CONI (as a public body) while it remains ad libitum for the Federations as private bodies (although many distinctions would be necessary on how private they are). Therefore, among the various oddities of the system, among the candidates for the Presidency of CONI there will be Luciano Bonfiglio, re-elected in recent months for the sixth consecutive time at the top of the National Canoe and Kayak Federation (which he has directed since 2005) and who will therefore be able to vote for himself. Competing with him for the victory is Luca Pancalli, President of the Disabled Sports Federation for 25 years, which over time has become CIP (Italian Paralympic Committee), an exponent welcomed, it seems, by the Government. But between the two, no one seemed to have the numbers to feel safe and so the idea was born to resort to a peacemaker who would unite the consensus, someone who would be good for everyone and who would only take the field in the certainty of victory. And so the impartial candidate to aspire to number 1 in Italian sport will be Franco Carraro, born in 1939, former President of CONI from 1978 to 1987, former Minister during Andreotti's time, former Mayor of Rome, former President of the Football Federation, former IOC Member, yes, yes... He has had his 3 mandates at CONI, although before the law came into force. A biographical detail of the three favorite candidates also deserves attention: between Carraro, Bonfiglio and Pancalli, the average age is 71. Worth mentioning in the roster but in the role of outsider, the two-time Olympian of equestrianism Mauro Checcoli, 82 years old, ambassador of Olympism and Carlo Iannelli, lawyer, father of Giovanni, a young cyclist who died 144 meters from the finish line (against an unprotected wall) without peace due to mourning and the indifference of the sports justice system: he would have gladly worked with Cataldi.
Obviously the history of the Presidency of the Italian Olympic Committee is entirely male-dominated: no woman among the 20 at the top and no one has ever even tried. The exception that confirms the rule is the candidacy of denunciation and protest of the writer, in the last electoral round (2021). "Old age for us is wealth, it is wisdom" says Luisa Rizzitelli, President of Assist, National Association of Athletes "but when a system like the political sports system has proposed at the helm, for 111 years, only men who are generally elderly and should be proud to leave their place to young men and women, without ever really addressing the embarrassing gender and generational disparities, it means that the system is sick, of power, blindness and narcissism. When a managerial structure (moreover public) effectively excludes those who represent the future and diversity, leaving them only crumbs, we are faced with a chronic patriarchal and chauvinist system. Indeed, worthy of a medal".
In our country, sport is losing the fundamental pieces of participation, of the right to compete without having to be champions, of talents burned by early hyperspecialization, but the management model only looks at its self-preservation. The IOC has finally tried to set a good example; CONI is at least consistent on this and doesn't even try!
International Council for Coaching Excellence - ICCE
ENGSO
Assist - Associazione Nazionale Atlete
Suomen Valmentajat ry
Team Bulgaria
Fondation Alice Milliat
