Italy is always ready for a big party, and the men’s 4x100m relay team is an example of that. After they took the gold in a dramatic finale at the Olympic Stadium, they celebrated with the Italian fans.
Okay, all of those fans had credentials around their necks. But the Italian delegation made enough noise to be heard in the other corner of the stadium.
The athletes - Lorenzo Patta, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Eseosa Desalu, and Filippo Tortu - posed for the photos, they spoke to the broadcasters, one by one. Then, the Italian press. They might be tired.
One hour after the victory, they speak with Around the Rings. With the same energy and kindness as it was with the first interview. A very relaxed conversation full of jokes and laughs. And with the best English they can, with a strong Italian accent, of course.
Filippo Tortu froze the stopwatch in 37.50 seconds. National record and Olympic champions. What went through his mind in that final sprint?
“I just think about to relax all my body, stay calm. I don’t know, È un ossimoro... I just think to relax, stay calm and you will win”.
A sprint similar to Valentino Rossi over his motorcycle, or a Formula One accelerating to the checkered flag.
“Siii, like a Ferrari I think. But we are four Ferrari! Not just one, because if I cross the line first, is because there’s a great team behind me, that pushed me to the finish. I just stayed calm and….”, Tortu asks his teammate Lamont Marcell Jacobs for some help with translation: “Se c’è qualcuno di fianco me lo voglio mangiare?”.
“When you have someone on the side you want to…”, Jacobs says just before Tortu continues: “I want to eat him”. The four Italians laugh. Tortu’s dinner - Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Great Britain - was just one hundredth back with 37.51. Tortu chased him and reached him just over the line, stretching his neck, putting his chest forward and loosening his arms. “When I see the English guy next to me… he is a nice guy, he is my friend. But I wanted to eat him!”, the sprinter says, recognizing that Italian food certainly tastes better.
Work hard and dream big, is the key for Jacobs, happier with this gold medal than with the previous individual one in the 100 meters. “That’s the real formula. Because we believed for real to attack and take the gold”. No time for him to party as Italians do. Right after the games, Jacobs travels to Eugene, Oregon to race in a Diamond League challenge. But when he gets back home, huge celebrations will come: “For sure is a big, big, big party for all Italy”. With Italian wine? “Yeah, yeah, yeah”, Jacobs exclaims.
“Whole Italy. This year is for Italy. Eurovision, European futbol, now we. Italy is my team. I go to the stadium to look for the Italian team. Is a good … Come si dice?.. Good energy for us!”
Jacobs is a huge fan of tattoos.
“Of course, of course. I win two gold medals here in 100, with the team. I’m gonna tattoo all my arm, I don’t know, with the two medals, maybe the rings….gold”.