Elisa Di Francisca talks about the controversy with Benedetta Pilato again
Former fencer Elisa Di Francisca returns to talk about the controversy with swimmer Benedetta Pilato born during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The foil champion, in fact, had criticized live on TV the words of the swimmer who had said she was satisfied with the fourth place she had obtained in the 100 breaststroke. “Is she pretending or is she faking it?” Di Francisca had commented immediately afterward, who then apologized to the athlete.
Now, interview from Evening Courierthe fencer returned to the subject: “The controversy at the beginning of the Olympics took away space from the medals and the athletes. I’m sorry. I see that people continue to talk about it even today. Too much. What I said about Benedetta Pilato, as I said it: the message was exploited. I spoke from the gut, because of my history. Then I have my strengths and weaknesses”.
Di Francisca recognizes that the concepts could have been expressed in another way: “But I am not a journalist: I was live as a former athlete, ambassador of Coni in Paris 2024. Benedetta, on the spur of the moment, defined the fourth place as the best day of her life. They asked me for a comment: I felt like saying what I said because I believe in it deeply”.
“I truly believe that suffering, feeling bad for a result that doesn’t arrive, is important. I say this drawing on my experience as a former fencing athlete: you have to feel sorry, because that’s where you get the motivation to start conquering again. I’ve always done it that way” adds the former champion.
When the journalist points out that her experience should not be the same as Pilato’s, Di Francisca responds: “But that doesn’t mean I’m a bully, a violent person, a bitch… I’m a person who has learned from suffering: I won the Olympics at 29, after having lost a lot. And I have internalized all the bad and negative moments, to transform them into strength. This is the lesson I will give to my children, without loving them any less, of course.”
According to the former champion, today the competitive nastiness that she and her colleagues had when they were competing has been lost: “I see that bite, that hunger, that ferocious determination, around, in few. We are talking about competitive nastiness, obviously: when we stepped on the platform, we transformed ourselves. It is suffering that prepares you for life, not being satisfied”.
The former fencer then revealed that she had cleared things up with the swimmer: “I called her the next morning, we talked. I didn’t want her to think I had it in for her, a nineteen-year-old. It was a broader issue.”
This is the story of the phone call: “Hi, I’m Elisa. And she: why did you say what you said? It’s my way of living life, the child of my way of being, I tried to clarify. But you’re not my mother, she said. If you were, I would tell you the exact same things, I replied. But if I offended your sensibilities, I apologize.”
On how she will behave with her children, she says: “I will not teach them the obligation to win at all costs, but they know that if they do not do something well there will be consequences. Not dramatic, but consequences. I am sorry but I belong to the past generation, I had a strict father who raised me in a certain way. The prevailing do-goodism is not my philosophy. And I cannot stand the hypocritical fiction of social media nor those who, in moments of controversy, use situations to elevate themselves. Real life is different”.
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