Together they have taken part in seven Olympic Games and four Universiade Games, with an ocean of successes: Diego Occhiuzzi and Francesco Postiglione will now be the poster boys for the 2019 Summer Universiade.
Occhiuzzi will be leaving fencing after the next Absolute Fencing Gear Sabre Grand Prix in June in Milan, while Postiglione has spent his life in water, between swimming and water polo. Both are Neapolitan-born champions who participated in the Universiade prior to soaring to higher levels and are aware of the technical value of it. They have also got involved in a program to select 10,000 volunteers for the organization and holding of the event.
One week after the website was launched, 200 have signed up. "The Universiade is the Olympics of students," Postiglione said. "I did one in Sheffield in 1991 and it was a wonderful experience. For the first time I had contact with something similar to an Olympic village. I remember the involvement of volunteers and the relationship that grew between them and the athletes, to the point of some of them feeling our successes as if they were their own." "Naples," he added, "can do well and we must all work sop that our city makes a good impression." His words were echoed by Occhiuzzi, who has taken part in three Universiade editions.
"The Universiade," he said, "are traditionally a launch pad towards the Olympics and are held two years before them. for this reason, athletes that will be stars of the later event are found in these ones as well. The Universiade are a good trial run." They will also be a test for Naples, which is working hard on organizing the event.
"Naples has many problems," Occhiuzzi noted, "but also a great deal of resources. The Universiade should serve as a chance to get our city spoken about due to its beauty and not its negative aspects." Occhiuzzi and Postiglione will be involved in a tour of Campania region universities in search of volunteers that - after an inaugural stop in Caserta last week and one in Salerno in June - will resume in Naples after the summer with several appointments in the city's universities.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
