2021 is coming to an end. A year of successes and epochal events, but also conflicts and tragedies.
One year, the second, with the whole world engaged in the battle against Covid-19.
A year to be retraced, also in images, through the news of UnioneSarda.it.
Third stage: all the successes in music, sport, science
***
LAURA PAUSINI WINS THE GOLDEN GLOBE
On March 1st Laura Pausini wins the Golden Globe for the best original song with the song "Io Sì", soundtrack of the film by Edoardo Ponti (son of Sophia Loren) "Life in front of itself". The song was composed in collaboration with Diane Warren and Niccolò Agliardi. "I have goosebumps", is the comment of Pausini, "I never imagined winning a Golden Globe". Then the dedication "to all those who want and deserve to be seen and to that little girl who won Sanremo 28 years ago and would never expect to get so far".
***
MANESKIN WIN THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
Eurovision returns to Italy after 31 years, the last Italian to win it was Toto Cutugno in 1990. The Maneskin on May 22nd beat Rotterdam ahead of France and Switzerland. The televoting rewards Damiano, Victoria, Ethan and Thomas, making their score jump to 524. The French accuse Damiano of snorting cocaine on live TV, all false. A controversy that does not obscure the memorable year of the Roman band, which also conquered the United States by opening the Rolling Stones concert in Las Vegas.
***
BERRETTINI IN THE FINAL AT WIMBLEDON
At the 134th edition an Italian, for the first time, reaches the final of the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. On the lawns of Wimbledon on 9 July Matteo Berrettini beats the Polish Hubert Hurkacz with a score of 6-3, 6-0, 6-7, 6-4 in the semifinals. Forty-eight hours later, on a historic day for Italian sport, he will lose the final with world number 1 Novak Djokovic 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. A defeat that does not cancel the golden year of the Roman tennis player, who was number 7 in the world. Historic year in general for the blue colors, which close with two tennis players in the top ten. Berrettini is joined by Jannik Sinner, who wins four tournaments and closes as world number 10, replacing Matteo at the ATP Finals when the latter is forced to forfeit due to injury.
***
FOOTBALL, ITALY EUROPEAN CHAMPION
On 11 July London is the Italian capital. While Berrettini plays the Wimbledon final, a few kilometers away, at Wembley, Roberto Mancini's national football team beats England on penalties and wins the European title 53 years after that of '68 with Gigi Riva protagonist. A triumphal ride that begins with group wins over Turkey, Switzerland (both 3-0) and Wales (1-0). Great suffering in the second round with Chiesa and Pessina bending Austria only in extra time (2-1). An excellent quarter-final against Belgium, 2-1 with Barella (first Sardinian goal in history between the European and World Cups) and Insigne, then the semifinal won on penalties with Spain (also here scored by Chiesa in 1-1 of the first 90 '). Finally, the apotheosis at Wembley, when we give a huge displeasure to the English at their home: England ahead in the 2 'with Shaw, Bonucci replies in the 67'. Then the lottery of shots from the spot rewards us thanks to the final parade of Donnarumma.
***
THE TWO EARS IN 20 MINUTES OF JACOBS AND TAMBERI
On August 1st, between 2.35pm and 2.55pm, the twenty minutes that rewrite the history of Italian sport. Two very heavy Olympic gold medals in athletics in Tokyo. First that of "Gimbo" Tamberi in the high jump, ex aequo with the Qatari Barhsim. Then that of Marcell Jacobs in the “queen” race of the Summer Olympics, the 100 meters flat. To think that an Italian had never made it to the 100-meter Olympic final: the first to get there is also the first to win it with an amazing time of 9''80, a European record.
***
THE GOLD OF THE ITALIAN RELAY WITH TWO SARDINES
After the 100 meters, Italy also wins the 4x100 relay, becoming the queen of speed. The blue relay, composed of Lorenzo Patta from Oristano, Filippo Tortu from Brianza of Sardinian origins, Fausto Desalu and the 100-meter Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs, burns the English (always them, our sacrificial victims this year) on the wire . The protagonist of the last 100 meters is Filippo Tortu, who with an amazing last stage overtakes his British rival and crosses the finish line in front of everyone with an extraordinary 37''50.
***
TOKYO 2020 CLOSES WITH A RECORD FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Italy closes the Japanese Olympics (closing ceremony on August 8) with a record balance of 40 medals (10 golds, 10 silvers and 20 bronzes). Exceeds the numbers of Los Angeles '32 and Rome '60 (36 medals on both occasions). Also worth mentioning is the gold in the men's team pursuit of track cycling, with Ganna as driver, and the heroic expedition of Gregorio Paltrinieri who - just recovered from mononucleosis - gets a silver and a bronze in swimming.
***
PARALYMPICS, BEBE VIO'S SECOND CONSECUTIVE GOLD
The queen of the Paralympic foil strikes again. The 24-year-old from Mogliano Veneto on August 28 defeats the Chinese Jingjing Zhou in the final 15-9 and repeats the gold medal obtained at the Rio Olympics in 2016, when she won the final against the Chinese herself.
***
THE PARALYMPIC TRIPLE IN THE FEMALE 100 METERS
Another historic feat arrives on September 4th, also in Tokyo. The Paralympic sprinters scored a hat-trick in the final of the women's 100 meters category T63, the one reserved for athletes who compete with prosthetic limbs.
Vince Ambra Sabatini, 19 year old from Tuscany who also sets the world record with a time of 14 '' 11. Silver for Martina Caironi from Bergamo, 31, bronze for Graziana Contraffatto, 40 years old.
The Paralympics for the blue colors ended with 69 medals, only in Rome in 1960 (80 laurels) had we done better.
***
VOLLEY, BLUE TRIS BETWEEN EUROPEAN AND WORLD UNDER 21
Also on 4 September the blue of volleyball, with the Sardinian Alessia Orro and dragged by Paola Egonu, won the European Championships in Serbia by beating the hosts 3-1 in the final (24-26, 25-22, 25-19, 25 -11).
The males will grant an encore in Poland, beating Slovenia at the tie break in the final for 22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11.
Finally, it is also the turn of the men's Under 21, who won the World Cup by beating Russia 3-0 in the final at the PalaPirastu in Cagliari (25-19, 25-22, 25-20).
***
On 19 September Filippo Ganna confirmed himself as world champion in the road cycling time trial, repeating the success obtained the previous year in Imola in Belgium. The Piedmontese athlete runs the 43.3 kilometers from Knokke-Hoste to Bruges in 47'47 "83. Behind him, silver medalist, Van Aert, at 5" 37; third the other Belgian, Remco Evenepoel, at 43 "34.
***
ROAD CYCLING, ELISA BALSAMO'S TRIUMPH
A few days later, on the 25th, it was the turn of Elisa Balsamo who won the women's road cycling world championships. If that of Ganna was a confirmation, that of the 23-year-old from Cuneo is an unexpected exploit. The Balsamo, thanks to an excellent team game of the blues, beat the highly decorated Dutch champion Marianne Vos, great favorite of the eve together with her compatriots.
***
Italian pastry chefs are also world champions. On 26 September Lorenzo Puca, Massimo Pica and Andrea Restuccia win the pastry world championship in Lyon. They do it in front of Japan and France at the end of an exhausting ten-hour race, during which the team created the chocolate dessert, the ice cream cake, the restaurant dessert, a 165 cm high sugar sculpture and a chocolate pièce. of the same height.
***
EPIC COLBRELLI IN PARIS- ROUBAIX
The most important of the great classics returns to Italy after 22 years. Sonny Colbrelli wins an epic battle in the mud and wins the 118th edition of the Paris-Roubaix, a 258 kilometer race, 55 of which on cobblestones. Upon arrival the blue athlete, like his rivals, is a mud mask. Cobrelli wins in the sprint over the Belgian Florian Vermeersch and the Dutch Mathieu Van Der Poel. Fourth was Gianni Moscon from Trentino. The last Italian to win Paris-Roubaix was Andrea Tafi in 1999.
***
THE NOBEL FOR PHYSICS TO GIORGIO PARISI
On 5 October a very important scientific recognition. Giorgio Parisi, theoretical physicist at the La Sapienza University of Rome and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, as well as vice president of the Accademia dei Lincei, wins the Nobel Prize for Physics thanks to his research on complex systems. He splits the Nobel Prize in half with Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann, who gain recognition for their research on climate models and global warming. Before his the last Nobel Prize to a researcher born in Italy is that of 2007 to Mario Capecchi, active in the USA, but to go back to an Italian researcher who has done most of the work in Italy, you have to go back to the Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded in 1959 to Giulio Natta.
***
GYMNASTICS, THE QUARTESE BARTOLINI WORLD CHAMPION OF FREE BODY
On 23 October Nicola Bartolini from Quartu Sant'Elena enters the history of Italian artistic gymnastics. In Kitakyushu, Japan, he wins the world title in the free body. A title in this discipline had been missing in Italy for 108 years, in artistic gymnastics in general instead it had been missing for 24, since the time of Juri Chechi. The Sardinian wins with 14,800 points, ahead of the home champion Kazuki Minami (14,766) and the Finnish Emil Soravuo (14,700).
***
THE GOLD OF BUTTERFLIES IN RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
A few days later, on October 31st, it's up to the butterflies to win the gold medal in the hoops and clubs specialty, to which is added a silver in the exercise with the 5 balls. The “heroines” are Alessia Maurelli, Martina Centofanti, Agnese Duranti, Martina Santandrea and Daniela Mogurean, with the reserve Laura Paris: with 42.275 points they are placed in front of Russia and Japan.
***
Sofia Goggia's performance in alpine skiing is also historic. The skier from Bergamo dominates the weekend in Lake Louise, and on December 5th she places her third victory in three days. After the two descents he also wins the Super-G, one of those feats that only the very best can do. Over the following weekend he will place two more victories in Val d'Isere, closing 2021 at the top of the overall World Cup standings.
***
Finally, on December 16, the Economist crowns Italy as the "Country of the Year". A "changed country" - reads the reasons - "thanks to a competent and respected premier at international level". The weekly praises the Draghi government, "there is a majority that has buried differences in support of a program of profound reforms and an economy that is recovering better than the French and the German ones".
Already in the previous months the Economist had praised us, citing among other things the sporting triumphs, the victory of the Maneskin, the Nobel Prize for physics and the success of the anti-Covid vaccination campaign, which according to the magazine is one of the elements that have favored the recovery.
***
THE GALLERY
Il 2021 è l'anno dei trionfi azzurri
***
The stages:
December 23 - 2021: sixteen images to tell the world
December 24 - Men who kill women: another year of femicides
December 27 - The long goodbye: those who left us in 2021
December 29 - The pandemic a year later, the months we will not forget
December 31 - 2021, what happened in Sardinia
December 31 - The film of 2021: a year in three minutes