Who is Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy, the Italian who won twice at the 2024 Paris Paralympics: on the field and with an interview

First he won, then he won by a landslide. He has a name that is almost unpronounceable, a smile that conquers, a very powerful arm. He preserves in his words and in the way he offers them, an irony that few have, a purity that distinguishes him, a simplicity that should be an example. His name is Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy, he is an Italian athlete, he won the gold medal – in the discus throw F52 – at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

He embellished the gold with the world record, which he broke three times. He threw the discus at 27.06 meters, improving – once, 25.48 meters, twice, 25.80 meters, finally three times: 27.06 meters – the previous record by a good six meters. In short: a phenomenon, who gave Italy its first gold medal in athletics. But he added much more to the results obtained on the platform.

At the microphones of Raisport in a handful of minutes he managed to tell his story in such an original way that immediately – as often happens in the centrifuge of the web – he became the character of the day. Dribbling the rhetoric and the copy & paste storytelling that so often follows a sporting feat, Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy gave – without wanting to – a lesson in sport.

Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy, Rigi for all, 25 years old, Roman, parents originally from Sri Lankastill fresh from his victory, interviewed by journalist Elisabetta Caporale, said: “What should I say? I dedicate the victory to my mother, to my sister, to Rome, to the tenth district, to my neighbor who came to visit me and gave me the flag. Friendship is the most beautiful thing there is, even more than a medal. Tomorrow we’ll see.”

With every smile a sincere shyness shone through, with every word a reticence that is not common, therefore it is precious. With irony he underlined that «yes, he likes the world of sport, even if there are a few too many disabled people perhaps», he greeted «Alice, ‘my girl» but he said he was “still too young for marriage»; more seriously he added that he wanted to dedicate his medal «to the whole Italian nation and to all those disabled people who are at home».

The disease appeared in adolescence, at eighteen Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy discovered he was affected by the Guillain-Barré syndromea polyneuropathy accompanied – in his case – by paresthesia in the legs and then in the arms. Two years later, in 2019, following a fall, the disease worsened and Ganeshamoorthy, hospitalized at the Santa Lucia Hospital in Rome, began playing wheelchair basketball. But he didn’t like it. “Too much effort,” he says in these hours.

Here then is an attempt at fencing (which he continues to practice), and then moves on to throwing. “Much more fun.” He falls in love with the discipline, and begins to practice it assiduously. Last year he became the Italian Paralympic champion in shot put F55 and discus throw F54-55. He already has the WR in the javelin (20.99) in his collection and is only 1cm below the WR in the shot put (11.74). Before the Games he had said: “I hope I don’t feel the pressure typical of big competitions, but I believe that there are no competitions this important and it will be a unique experience to live.” In the coming days, Ganeshamoorthy will also aim for a medal in the javelin throw. We are confident in the medal, confident in the smile that it will bring as a dowry.