LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 13 (Reuters) - For Italian Alpine skier Giovanni Franzoni, the defining force behind his rapid rise to Olympic glory has not just been speed or talent but resilience, a strength he says was forged in injury and deepened by the loss of a close teammate.
Franzoni, 24, won silver in the Winter Games downhill in Bormio, capping a standout season marked by World Cup victories in Kitzbuehel and Wengen, as well as two podium finishes.
Three years ago, however, a serious injury requiring lengthy rehab threatened to derail his career.
Last year, he also had to cope with the death of close friend Matteo Franzoso following a training crash, a tragedy that shook the Alpine skiing world.
Standing with the silver medal around his neck, Franzoni said the loss, rather than breaking him, had given him the inner strength to overcome setbacks on his path back to the podium, results he regularly dedicates to his late friend.
"Especially on the bad days, I use that energy to push harder, to push myself to the limit, to fight within myself and try to do my best every day — not only for me, but also for him," Franzoni told Reuters.
That inner journey has also made it possible for Franzoni to gain a broader perspective on life: "Enjoy every day because we don’t know if it’s the last or not."
LENGTHY REHAB TAUGHTFRANZONI DISCIPLINE
The long months of daily rehabilitation also helped the Italian athlete create a winning mindset.
"It was the discipline to do the rehab and all the work every day, not just on the days when I felt motivated. That discipline brought me here today with this medal," he said.
The pain of losing a colleague has made him sensitive to others facing similar grief. Asked about a Ukrainian skeleton athlete disqualified for displaying images of fallen compatriots:"I know how it is to lose a teammate," he said.
HUNGRY FOR GOLD
On the mountain, Franzoni still races for the thrill, happy to hurl himself down at over 140 kph.
"I love the speed. I love to be free down the course," he said, a broad smile lightening up his face under a mop of curly dark hair.
Franzoni, who began his career in the technical disciplines of giant slalom and slalom before switching to speed events, admitted there were early moments of real fear.
"The first times being in Bormio and Wengen were pretty scary during the inspection because I wasn’t used to training a lot in downhill and super-G," he said. But he gained more confidence with training: "Right now it’s pretty fun."
Now among the sport’s rising talents, Franzoni says the silver medal has only sharpened his appetite.
The Italian missed Olympic gold in the downhill by 0.20 seconds, bowing to the power of Swiss Franjo von Allmen, who won three events at the Milano Cortina Games.
In the team combined event, which brings together a downhiller and a slalom specialist, Franzoni clocked the fastest time in the speed leg of the race but had to settle for seventh place after a disappointing slalom performance by teammate Alex Vinatzer. He came sixth in super-G.
"I was so close to gold. In the team combined but also in the super-G, just one mistake took me away from the medal," said Franzoni, who will compete in the Olympic giant slalom race on Saturday."I'm hungry, really hungry for more."
(Reporting by Lisa Jucca, Kurt Hall and Joyce Zhou in Livigno, Writing by Lisa Jucca; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
