From the legends of the 60s and 70s,Franco Nones a Gustav Thoento today’s champions,Sofia Goggia, Pietro Sighel e Davide Ghiotto; passing through many other champions of the caliber of Piero Gros, Cristian Zorzi, Giorgio Vanzetta, Christof Innerhofer, Arianna Fontana and Dorothea Wierer. They are the most famous names in theFiamme Gialle Skiers’ Groupan important and above all successful branch ofYellow Flamesthe glorioussports group of the Guardia di Finanza.
The Gruppo Sportivo Sciatori is shutting down this year100 candlesa century of life. For this special occasion today, at the Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, in the presence ofPresident of the Republic, Sergio Mattarellathe century-old birthday will be celebrated, also celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the Alpine Rescue of the Guardia di Finanza.
The origins: skiing and the Financial Police
It all began in1925. A century ago, the Guardia di Finanza decided to introduce the practice of skiing as a direct extension of the training activity carried out in the mountains for the departments involved in border control along the Alpine arc. It should be remembered that the relationship between skiing and the mountains is as old as the origins of the Corps, 251 years old. The financier was born in the mountains as a ‘border soldier’.
As the years and decades pass, military and state sports groups take on an increasingly important role in Italian sport, becoming a real logistical and economic support for training and competitions.
Meanwhile, the oldest is born in the mountains of Val di FiemmeAlpine military schoolglobally: theAlpine School of the Guardia di Finanza of Predazzo. The barracks is named after General Carlo Valentino, former commander of the Alpine School and president of the Fisi from 1988 to 2000, who died in 2016.
Evolution and disciplines of the Yellow Flames
Structured and strengthened more and more over the years, first with the entry in 2001 of the firstfemale athletes – Isolde Kostner, Denise Karbon e Michela Ponza– and then, in 2003, with the transition to the Sports Center of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome – Castelporziano, the Fiamme Gialle Ski Group is present with its male and female athletes in goodtwelve winter disciplines(alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, jumping, Nordic combined, bobsleigh, snowboarding, ski cross, ski mountaineering, speed skating, short track and curling). The yellow-green partnership has also opened up toParalympic skiersand they are currently part of itGiacomo Bertagnolli e Chiara Mazzel.
The youth sections and the future
In Predazzo there is also a staff dedicated to the basic functioning of the barracks. A source of pride for the Corps is to make the structures available not only for the activities of the Fiamme Gialle. At the Skiers’ Group there are also Youth Sections, which follow the most promising young people, registered around the age of 17 and in some cases then enlisted.
On the occasion of the Centenary of the Fiamme Gialle Ski Group, thedocufilm ‘The Century’. Delle Yellow Flameshe was also the blue skierMatteo Franzosowho died last September 15 following a serious accident during downhill training on the Chilean snows of La Parva.