Sydney Olympics 2000

Six hours late. “It was incredibly tense and nerve-wracking. We race, we don't
race... it was really horrible.” The wind was blowing against us at 60 km/h, such
bad conditions that you wouldn't even train for fear of injuries. The Olympics
had to be finished when the Olympic flame went out. So, good conditions or
not the race had to be completed.

Force. Determination. Class.

A scream that expressed my whole career. The road that made me (day after day, result after result) realize that I can reach my goal of winning an Olympic gold medal.

The race were J was able to fly

A day from hell. An infernal race. From a psychological point of view, it was the race of the century. The first 250 mt were tough because the waves were coming over the side of the kayak. The water in my face took my breath away and obstructed my sight. I knew that the second part of the race would be better since there was an embankment that would protect us from the wind. I was hoping for a more technical
finish. I was waiting for my chance to spread out. I wanted to be lucid to show my
technique, before the others, and to gain that extra time to be in the running for the
medal. I made my best time in the last 250 mt. This is what enabled me to win

I was so tense and enthralled by the terrible conditions that when I realized that I
won I began thinking that they could invalidate everything. It wasn't like that though, Guglielmo and I let our joy take us away. Our whole sports history, determination and never-ending faith (that we could do something great together)
flashed right before our eyes. Our feelings today are indescribable.

Yes, I'm one of those that kiss my gold Olympic medal.

Unmistakably, without any doubt, my most precious medal is Janek. In 1994,
while I was expecting him, we went to all the big manifests and international
competitions.......... Without him I could never go anywhere.