«We are listening to the bitter end of the new album by Irama that everyone likes and we have looked at everything Bridgerton. We are also synchronized on that ». They say it with a smile, but it is clearly the truth. This is demonstrated by the looks of complicity that they exchange throughout the interview Alessia Maurelli and Martina Centofanti, two of the rhythmic gymnastics butterflies. Butterflies are one thing no matter who tells it, everything applies to everyone, like the musketeers and even more, given the Olympic and world medals that the blue gymnasts have on their showcase.
Alessia Maurelli started with the artistic and then moved on to rhythmics in a Ferrara-based company history, Putinati. Martina Centofanti did swimming, classical dance. “I was very active and my parents found something that was more suitable for me. We saw the World Cup on TV and then it was love at first sight“.
Their constant is the rhythmic gymnastics. Theirs and that of all the other butterflies, the girls of Italian rhythmic gymnastics, bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, several times on the world podium. They train 8 or 9 hours a day. After that, there is physiotherapy and then dinner.
Do you have free time?
«A little, but we spend it together. Some evenings we get together to chat or watch a movie. Saturday night is free. Despite the busy day we like to stay together. We have the same priorities and wavelengths ».
The butterflies all live together with Desio. From a very young age. A choice that weighed?
Alessia Maurelli: «It is as if I had been programmed for this and I did not suffer from being detached. My dream covered the lack of home».
Martina Centofanti: «I left home 14 years earlier with the Junior team in Fabriano. My parents were hesitant. I, on the other hand, was convinced. I’ve been in Desio since I was 16. We are very lucky because our parents follow us everywhere, they come to visit us often ».
Do you become friends by being together a lot?
Alessia Maurelli: «You don’t become friends, you create a relationship of total symbiosis. It’s not just friendship, it’s not just being teammates. A bond was created with the Tokyo four-year team that allowed us to work on the platform together, but also to live together without feeling it as a constraint. At the end of the season we also go on vacation together ».
Is rhythmics a search for perfection?
Alessia Maurelli: «It is a continuous search for perfection in the exercise, with the team, with ourselves. Also in the scores of rhythmic gymnastics there is a value linked to the search for perfection, to how you performed the exercise in competitions. Our challenge is to make five girls one thing ».
Quarte in Rio 2016, bronze in Tokyo 2020.
Martina Centofanti: «The fourth place in Rio was a big blow. Alessia and I decided to continue and a very nice group was created with which we also found ourselves outside the gym. The union also helped us a lot on the platform. We quickly found what we could do well with Rio. Going through the pandemic together has made us even more of a group. We didn’t waste a minute training even in a pandemic ».
Is the mind central to your sport too?
Alessia Maurelli: «Compared to other athletes we live in close contact and perceive some things in the same way, we communicate without filters and we know for sure that the companions understand the best of what I feel. We are psychologists help each other and this strengthens the group. If we confide something in the evening, the next morning there is already a better understanding ».
What place does error have in your pursuit of perfection?
Alessia Maurelli: «We work to be able not to make mistakes in the race. Obviously the mistake can happen, but we are used to always drawing a lesson from it. There is always something to think about. When one makes a mistake, it is everyone’s mistake. Our coach teaches us this. We try to work in order not to be afraid of making mistakes ».
Martina Centofanti: «Our parents suffered the most at the Olympics. We were ready to face such a big thing at that moment. Fear is that adrenaline that gives us something more ».
Both of you have decided to continue with gymnastics, a sport that usually leaves you very young.
Alessia Maurelli: «We were both amazed at ourselves. To continue is a decision we made after thinking a lot. The pandemic has taught us that some things don’t need to be programmed. We shouldn’t have assumed we would quit after Tokyo. We decided to listen more to the head and body in the present. Don’t plan too much in the future ».
Martina Centofanti: «I wanted to leave the doubt. At 25 in our sport you are at the limit because gymnastics requires intense physical and mental effort. In the end, the choice came by itself with what you feel inside. We all decided to continue and this gave us strength. Being big, we set ourselves a goal from year to year. In September we have the Olympic qualification with the World Cup in Bulgaria and then we’ll see ».
Do butterflies have a secret?
Alessia Maurelli: «Our secret is unity. It starts from our coach. We are teams inside and outside the gym. The mentality that we have maintained during the difficulties is our strength ».
Will gymnastics stay in your life?
Alessia Maurelli and Martina Centofanti: «They are all enrolled at the University, to keep us an open door for the future. However, we believe that every gymnast always keeps something of her sport with her, whether it be a job or turn on the TV from time to time to watch a competition. Business communication and physical education ».
Do you mind the poor television coverage of your sport?
Alessia Maurelli and Martina Centofanti: «On the one hand we regret the lack of television coverage, but we are making progress with us as ambassadors of rhythmic gymnastics».
Do you feel like butterflies?
Alessia Maurelli and Martina Centofanti: «Yes, but we also feel like warriors. This is the word we all got tattooed with a butterfly in front of us ».
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Source: Vanity Fair
