Sinner? No. The opening ceremony of Paris 2024? Not even. The needlessly nasty questions to Benedetta Pilato after her fourth place in the 100 breaststroke final? Never. Of all the controversies, whether real or specious, that we could have faced, we would hardly have imagined having to talk about referees, even if it is an Italian custom, like gesticulating, cappuccino and pizza. And yet, the first five days of the Olympic Games have given us great sporting disappointments caused more by refereeing errors than by the debacles of our athletes, especially in fencing, the queen discipline of the historic Italian presences at the Games; remembering that the Olympics is the time that elapses between one edition and the next. Judo, boxing and, indeed, fencing, it is in these sports that evident refereeing errors have been concentrated, where it is not clear when technology ends and man begins, with his fallacies. Errors that have cost us medals, regardless of the metal. At the time of writing, Italy is eighth in the scoreboard with 11 laurels, 3 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes. The Games will end on August 11 and the idea of ​​reaching a record quota, as predicted on the eve, is moving away. But this is not the problem, I mean, it is not only this.

Boxing has always been a sport marked by the subjectivity of judgments and it has been a subject of great recriminations for some time now, this is also one of the issues that could take it out of the Games and it would be a great defeat for a discipline that in recent years has lost much of its appeal at an international level. The Italian boxer Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine suffered an absurd decision: in the match of the eighth finals of the heavyweights, against the Uzbek Lazizbek Mullojonov, the Italian athlete seemed to have led the match but the second round was judged in a questionable manner with the final result of 4-1 for the Uzbek; the opponent himself shook his head after the referee’s decision making a “No” sign with his finger on the result. In judo, something even more incredible happened, if you like, because ‘our’ Odette Giuffrida found herself in the bronze medal match with the same referee, the Romanian Ioana Babiuc, as in the semifinal: in both cases the judge disqualified the Italian athlete for the sum of shido – this happens when one of the two judoka is passive: does not attack, refuses holds, performs techniques without control of the movements or leaves the combat area – a choice that is difficult to accept when looking at the images.

Disappointment fencing

In fencing, a similar fate befell Arianna Errigo and Filippo Macchi, the former was ‘denied’ access to the semifinal, the latter the gold. In fencing, decisions and the assignment of points are the combination of technology and the human mind, where you can decide that a blow must be repeated, for example, or assign it depending on who attacked first. In Macchi’s case, the judge decided not to decide, favoring the athlete from Hong Kong who then won the gold, while the Italian silver sparked the reaction of the Italian coach Stefano Cerioni, 2 Olympic golds and a bronze: shaking the judges’ hands while – with very harsh words – he harshly criticized their conduct, indicating Macchi to the public as the moral winner. It is not the first time that the referees make mistakes, it is not the first time that it happens at the Games, in the same sports disciplines, and it is not the first time that Italy has to lick its wounds. It seems that Federscherma wants to present an official complaint, while the president of CONI, Giovanni Malagò, is bitter: «Shameful! Inappropriate to choose two referees like that».

How important is Italy?

But the result does not change and the frustration of having dedicated four years of one’s life to such an important goal and seeing it go up in smoke because of others is enormous. There are those who thunder against the lack of ‘political’ weight of Italy among the giants of world sport, those who even touch on the idea of ​​a conspiracy, recalling that every time there have been disputed points at the Games, Italy has almost always come out defeated. Instead, even though a part of us was with Cerioni, in his fiery gaze, in his stern words and in his angry gesticulation, there are three lessons that we can draw from these mistakes. The first, as in football – I will never stop saying it – is that when technology arrives in sport, whether tested, precise and commonly accepted, the man, that is the referee, the judge, must take a step back: the mix does not work and gives rise to conspiracy and bad faith, which plague every sport. The second is para-consolatory. Finally, Italians know more deeply certain sports and their rules that, let’s face it, every four years are impossible to remember: a dusting of sports culture. The third, the most important, the reaction of our athletes.

Odette Giuffrida

Above all, Odette Giuffrida who with frustration but class first supported the opponent who was booed by the public, metaphorically putting the medal around her neck, and then answered the questions without excessive controversy. Filippo Macchi, after the enormous disappointment, declared «I should have closed it on 14-12», admitting an error in concentration and strategy. Finally Arianna Errigo, who hopes to make up for it in the team competition. Because, as much as we argue on social media, defending the tricolor flag, the Olympic athletes, of wonderful sports, always bring us back to the field, be it a ring, a tatami or a platform, to the nous of sport and its multiple meanings: «… you win or you lose, it remains to be seen whether you win or lose as men (and as women!)». That’s where everything takes place, that’s where they are alone with themselves, that’s where everything begins and ends. And let’s hope that the refereeing errors to the detriment of the Italian athletes also end.