A special guest will be present on the day the Sanpolino stadium in Brescia is named after Gabre Gabric . Just hours before the start of the A-Level final of the Clubs' Under 13s, the ceremony organized by the City of Brescia to dedicate the facility to one of the pioneers of Italian women's athletics welcomed Olympic 100-meter and 4x100-meter relay champion Marcell Jacobs , who lived for many years in Desenzano del Garda, just a few kilometers from the provincial capital. "I'm happy that Brescia has a new facility," the European 100m record holder said, alongside an emotional Lyana Calvesi and Laurent Ottoz , Gabre Gabric's daughter and grandson. "When I lived here, there wasn't an opportunity like this. I have two messages, one for the parents and one for the kids. To parents, I say to always encourage their children to believe in their dreams, not just in sports; to kids, I say to believe in their dreams. Athletics has taught me so much, no one gives you anything for free. I've experienced many defeats, but reaching the top is a priceless feeling."

In front of a delegation from the Fiamme Oro (including Italian athletes Ayomide Folorunso and Yassine Rachik , as well as Italian national team skier Marta Rossetti , a former top-level multi-skier), the ceremony was opened by Mayor Emilio Del Bono : “Sport has the infinite power to unite and transcend barriers: Sanpolino is the youngest neighborhood in Brescia. The Calvesi field is also close to completion, for which we have committed 3,5 million euros.”

After remarks by Alessandro Mattinzoli, Councilor for Housing and Social Housing for the Lombardy Region, and Walter Muchetti, Councilor for Urban Regeneration for the Municipality of Brescia, it was Marco Riva's turn , President of CONI Lombardia: "There are five key words: vision, sharing, sustainability, courage, and the culture of sport." Grazia Maria Vanni , Vice President of FIDAL, conveyed greetings from President Stefano Mei : "As a Lombard, I know the path required to get to this day. Sport is an investment in prevention and health." The Federal Council was also present, with Gianfranco Lucchi and Simone Cairoli . The ceremony concluded with the ribbon-cutting ceremony, held by two other Italian athletes, Desirée Rossit and Desola Oki : Marcell Jacobs and Lyana Calvesi provided the significant ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Cesare Rizzi (FIDAL Lombardy)

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The woman who lived many lives passed away on December 16, 2015, at the age of 101. She was the Italian with the longest service record, the only survivor of the 1936 Berlin Games. Her name was Ljubica – Slavic for "amorina" – but for everyone she was Gabre, Gabre Gabric , who lived under many flags, ever since her birth, which took place under the label "K und K", Koenig und Kaiser, which appeared next to the image of Franz Joseph. Dalmatia, when she came into the world, was Imperial Regia.

An old black and white photo portrays her as beautiful and mysterious, like an adventurer from Eric Ambler's plots.

Gabre's age was not known exactly: perhaps she was born in 17, but the Ellis Island records, where she landed on the steamship "President Wilson" in 1923, attest that the girl was 9 years old: October 17, 1914. Her father Martin, a former officer, had no objections when the emigration officer wrote that date, that age. But the American Gabre did not last long: shortly thereafter she returned to Dalmatia, to Zara, and found herself a subject of Vittorio Emanuele III. Italian.

It is a small collection of data, of facts that contribute to making her a character handed down from a vanished world, the protagonist of a century that a famous English historian defined as short and that served her for many things: to bring her elegant figure to the discus platforms (it was not yet the time of certain dragons: the parables just beyond 40 meters attest to this) and to become the founder of one of the great dynasties of Italian athletics: Gabric-Calvesi-Ottoz should be written in succession, without punctuation.

Gabre has always been quick-spoken. When she went to the Berlin Games, she happened to meet Adolf Hitler and called him “a small, insignificant person, but with bestial eyes”. The chancellor was quite a regular at the Olympiastadion and was naturally present that day for the victory of Gisela Mauermayer, a card-carrying member of the National Socialist Party and with some problems at the end of the war. Gabre finished tenth to gain positions (sixth) two years later at the European Championships in Vienna, the first for girls.

During the war he won two of his four Italian titles and, as soon as the conflict was over, he was part of the adventurous expedition that, on a rickety Dakota, set sail for the European Championships in Oslo, the first event that brought athletes together again in the name of peace and in memory of those who had been swept away. He closed with London '48 and with 22 blue jerseys.

The Brescia years continue over time, alongside her husband Sandro Calvesi, a lecturer in the science and technique of obstacles, who dies in 1980: the polyglot Gabre finds herself chatting with Sandro's students who come from France and Great Britain. There is also a bespectacled boy, born on the shores of the Mediterranean, from Aosta, nice, mischievous. Eddy Ottoz will marry Liana Calvesi and Gabre will become the grandmother of Laurent, Pilar and Patrick. A unique grandmother who even as she grows older, entering her third and fourth years, does not give up going to test the shot put and discus platform. Those who have learned those gestures cannot forget them, and end up sharing them with those who, in their youth, dedicated themselves to other spheres. One is a magnificent fellow countryman of hers, Ottavio Missoni. A great breed, the Dalmatians. The women have always been beautiful and the Venetians on that coast recruited the fanti de mar, the first marines in history, among the men.

Among the Masters, Gabre has collected fourteen world and European titles and a flurry of records for a myriad of age categories.

 

Source: Fidal (Italian Athletics Federation)