Born in some cases at the dawn of the last century as an evolution of the training form of soldiers today the athletes of the military sports groups are an immense forge of historic triumphs and wonderful feats for Italian sports increasingly at the top of the world. In Italy there are eight military sports groups.
The four armed forces have their corresponding sports centre:
- Army Sports Center (Italian Army),
- Competitive sports centers of the Navy (Navy),
- Air Force Sports Center (Air Force)
- Carabinieri Sports Centre (Carabinieri Force).
The police force has the following sports groups:
- Fiamme Oro (State Police),
- Yellow Flames (Financial Police),
- Fiamme Azzurre (Prison Police Corps)
- Fiamme Rosse (National Fire Brigade Corps).
The athletes who had been enrolled in the Forestry Corps have transferred to the Carabinieri. Today, approximately 1,200 athletes are active in military sports clubs.
Over the years, military sports groups in Italy have created an excellent organizational and training system which is envied all over the world where 139 Nations adhere to the International Military Sports Council (CISM). At a European level, the presence is very strong in Germany and France but also Austria and Eastern countries, in the world in China and Russia. Oceania has not adhered to CISM.
The ‘Moscow case’
Lo ‘military athlete’ status in 1980, it did not allow several strong Italian athletes to participate in the Moscow Olympics following the boycott by the West. The non-military Italian athletes – who were given the green light to leave for the then Soviet capital only a few weeks before the event – participated under neutral colors, namely the flag of the International Olympic Committee.
In the first editions of the Olympics, the Italian team included athletes from the Italian Army, Navy and Guardia di Finanza. At the London Games in 1908, Italy won a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling with Enrico Porro, a sailor on the destroyer ‘Castelfidardo’ of the Royal Navy.
In the new century, military sports centers and groups have had a further transformation confirming the great support for national sports. Over the years, from the training form – the soldiers ran, jumped, threw – we moved on to an expansion of sports that were not really training, such as artistic gymnastics, ice skating, archery or curling.
Not just financial support
If until the early 2000s military sports groups were a fundamental economic support for athletes in the practice of sports, now military sports centers have also become technical centers of excellence where national and club teams train. There are projects of promotional activities in schools – the Fiamme Gialle were the first to enter the schools and ‘search’ among the desks for athletes who then also won Olympic medals – and of structured youth activities.
Examples are the youth section ‘Gaetano Simoni’ of the Fiamme Gialle but also those of the Carabinieri and Fiamme Oro. Over the years, military companies have also included athletes from the Paralympic sectorsome of whom were victims of acts of terrorism. This is the case of Corporal Major Monica Contrafatto, who had her right leg amputated in Afghanistan and then won several medals at the World Championships and Paralympics.
Military sports groups have established themselves as giving strong support to Coni and the federations in organizing sports events, both absolute and youth. Among military clubs, the Italian Championships are particularly felt where the athlete competes and represents the group or the body. In athletics when the company Championships were also open to ‘military’ there was always a great rivalry between Fiamme Gialle (18 men’s championships), Fiamme Azzurre, Fiamme Oro (12) and Carabinieri.
The Carabinieri
90% of the most famous athletes in Italian history have passed through sports groups. The skier is unforgettable Alberto Tomba who, for his sporting merits after the Olympic gold medals, reached the rank of Marshal of the Carabinieri (he later resigned). He was also a member of the Carabinieri Raimondo D’Inzeomultiple Olympic champion (Rome 1960) and world champion in equestrianism. Lieutenant of the Carabinieri is Armin Zoeggelerthe ‘myth’ of artificial track luge capable of winning six Olympic medals. All the great champions of Italian luge, since the time of Walter Plaikner in the 70s, they were part of the Carabinieri.
The financiers
Also present in many summer and winter sports are the financiers. Among the many names that have brought the Fiamme Gialle to the top, the skier Isolde Kostnerone of the first women to enter the corps, Domenico Fioravantifirst Olympic gold for Italian swimming (Sydney 2000), Joseph Gibiliscoworld pole vault gold, Tania Cagnottofirst Olympic and world medal for women in diving, or Arianna Fontanathe short track champion (Cagnotto and Fontana, are now discharged).
The policemen
In the Fiamme Oro, where they also served Livio BerrutiOlympic gold medalist in the 200 metres at the Rome Games in 1960, the swimmer Carlo Pedersoli (better known as Bud Spencer) and the motorcyclist Loris Capirossi, the Olympic champion of the 100 meters stand out Marcell Jacobs and the multi-titled foil fencing champion, as well as former Minister of Sport, Valentina Vezzali.
But not only that. In the sports group of the State Police also the fencing colleagues of Vezzali, Baby Saw ed Elisa DiFranciscathe skater Enrico Fabristhe ‘King’ of the Turin 2006 Olympics in the long track, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medals in athletics Gianmarco Tamberi (tall; in the past he had been enrolled in the Fiamme Gialle) and Max Stanoin Nordic skiing Frederick Pellegrino and gymnastics Sophia Raffaelli.
The Army and Other Weapons
Established a few months before the Rome edition of the Olympics (1960), the Army Sports Centre includes a series of sports which are not Olympic but which are part of the corps’ training, such as parachuting and winter triathlon.
Among the great champions, Marco Albarellomultiple Olympic and world medalist in Nordic skiing, the skier Martha Bassino, Diana Bacosi multiple Olympic medalist in clay pigeon shooting, Michela MoioliOlympic gold in snowboarding, and Fabio Basilefive-ring gold in judo.
In the Fiamme Azzurre, many athletes in cycling, athletics, ice sports (above all Carolina Kostner) and the sabre fencer Aldo Montano. The most representative athlete of the Fiamme Rosse was undoubtedly the multiple Olympic medalist in gymnastics, Jury Chechi.