“The stadium is wonderful; everything is light blue, like the official colour of Italian athletes and my braids”. The delight for competing at San Paolo Stadium, the official “theatre” of athletics at the 2019 Universiade, here in Naples, is almost contagious. Daisy Osakue, 23-year old Italian athlete from Turin, thinks about the future role that the temple of the Napoli Calcio football club could have one day: “All the renovations made in the stadium are just great, are they not? Can you imagine hosting the World Athletics Chmpionships here, one day?” she asks reporters in the mixed zone. It must be said she is a Juventus supporter and she admits it to the microphones. Football team preferences notwithstanding, the young athlete, a child of immigrants with a strong Turin accent, qualified at women’s discus throw final stage in the morning of July 8th. She finished second in her tournament and placed 12th in the general rank.
“The departure was quite slow but then I ran faster”, she admits with irony. She promises to do much better in the next competitions, “also because, if I keep being this slow at the World Championship, I will not be able to get among the first twelve either”.
Originally a Law student in Turin, she is currently studying Criminal Justice abroad in San Angelo, Texas, thanks to a scholarship. Osakue confesses to have not slept well before the qualification, “maybe I felt anxious, maybe I was excited for being here in Naples, a city that makes us as athletes all proud to be Italian, since foreigners are captivated by the beautiful view of Mount Vesuvius and the sea”. The Olympic dream continues to be in her mind, just like the eternal love she feels for our country, despite living on the other side of the globe now: “You can not imagine how I miss Italy when I am in the States to study from August to May. I also miss Italian food, even though I am a very good cook, so much that all my Texan friends are enamoured with my cuisine”.
