The night before the Rio Paralympics, in 2016, Alex Zanardi thinks back to his history, his competitive career and realizes once again how life has put him to the test, but also how it has given him many opportunities that unfortunately not everyone has.
It is therefore from the desire to share, to be reborn, to be committed and to be able to make others feel what he feels, that he decides to help and support those who would like to approach the sport but cannot. Thanks to Obiettivo 3 and to those who immediately supported Alex Zanardi, today his idea is an active reality present throughout the national territory.
Obiettivo 3 candidates have the opportunity to meet a team of experts who will be able to show them the right sporting path. Often, those who approach Paralympic sport, having no specific knowledge, do it in the wrong way, choosing and perhaps purchasing an unsuitable aid.
The first meeting with the association will serve to ask some fundamental questions to undertake the path, such as:
– What sport would you like to practice?
– Do you need a handbike or other technical means?
– What hypothetically would be your membership category?
– With your form of disability what is the most suitable discipline for you?
Here, after answering these questions, people are directed to the most suitable sporting activity in line with their goals.
By joining the community, the athletes receive the equipment on loan for free use, and, in addition to the expertise of the coaches, they find in the new teammates important points of reference for cultivating their passion. In its first four years of activity Obiettivo 3 has recruited more than 120 athletes, who have participated in dozens of national and international events, achieving remarkable results, one above all: the bronze medal won by para-cyclist Katia Aere at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Obiettivo 3 aims to spread the importance of sport for disabled people and for this reason has also devised a series of initiatives, the most important of which is the Obiettivo Tricolore relay.
Born in 2020 to launch a restart message through sport after the long lockdown, in 2021 the relay continued with the same format. A three-week journey with 70 Paralympic athletes involved in 54 stages spread over 18 regions. Each athlete has covered their own journey on a handbike, bicycle or Olympic wheelchair, passing the baton from hand to hand. Over 2,300 kilometers of travel with the final stage in Catania.
The 2022 edition, the third of Obiettivo Tricolore, has just ended. This year it started in Santa Maria di Leuca on 5 June and ended on 26 June in Cortina d’Ampezzo where Serena Wines bottles were present.
In Milan, at the Armani Silos, the photographic exhibition “Passage” dedicated to Obiettivo 3 athletes was held on April 27th. A collection of images and texts that trace the lives of these people, from the moment before the disability, through the instrumental examinations up to sporting activity.
For this occasion, Serena Wines created two “Special Edition” bottles, presented during Vinitaly 2022, to support the association and its activities.
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