Thomas Ceccon and the difficulty of living after the Olympics: “I feel empty”

It’s a Thomas Ceccon which appears a bit abrupt, extremely sincere, without filters whatsoever, what is portrayed today in the interview published by Corriere della Sera. He, a young gold medalist in the 100m backstroke at the 2024 Paris Olympics, immediately made it clear what he was made of.

Speaking of talent and sacrifice in the aftermath of the victory, for example, when he wrote on social media that “Success is not a coincidence, it is a choice”, or when he kindly asked not to be sexualized, after his perfect physique had sparked comments from thousands of fans.

Reading the words of Thomas Ceccon, the young athlete proves himself once again someone who seems to have no fear of speaking his mindeven if this might cost him more than some sympathy. For example that of the divine colleague Federica Pellegrini (fresh from his television debut in Dancing with the Stars), than for Ceccon it doesn’t mean anythingor so he says. «She never came to say a word to me. He minds his own business, and I mind my own business. I saw her train a lot. I admired her as a sportswoman. For the rest, honestly, no.” Probably a way of saying that there is no personal relationship with the record swimmer but, well, maybe a little more delicacy towards a colleague who has made the history of your sport in Italy and around the world maybe it would have been better to have it. After all, her idol is not her, but Rafa Nadal, “the greatest fighter in the history of sport”.

Ceccon shows no particular kindness not even towards Pariswho he had already criticized for the impossibility of sleeping in the very hot Olympic Village, which had forced him to take a nap outdoors, lying on the grass. «It’s not a bad city. Pretty”, says the athlete about what is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, which evidently hasn’t won him over that much, even though he admits that he was only able to visit it “a little”. De gustibus: it is not a given that the Eiffel Tower conquers everyone, especially those who don’t seem to be particularly in the mood for romance.

Maybe it’s because Ceccon says that the motivation to train, to compete and to win had come from a disappointment in love. «From a betrayal. Discovered on social media. I saw the girl I loved on Instagram with someone else. Even if she tried to deny it.” There, the desire for revenge, and the discovery that in swimming competitions you could vent your anger and transform it into something successful. Now, however, Ceccon says he has lost that motivation a bit, of feeling “empty”and perhaps we should worry about a new champion who suddenly says this, between the lines, in a world that is not always easy to manage psychologically like that of sport, as some highly awarded international athletes have said.

«The more you win, the higher you go; but the more you go even lower. I struggle to start my usual life again. I’m shocked. I go to bed at the time I usually get up, six in the morning, even seven. I sleep until two in the afternoon”, says Thomas Ceccon, and although he says he is sure of finding motivation again and of feeling somehow predestined to victory since he was fifteen, we should remember that it is a boy of just over twenty years oldwhich shows its fragility, while trying to hide it behind a veil of ostentatious security.