“San Paolo Stadium looks wonderful“, says Samuele Cerro, triple jump athlete at the 2019 Universiade

“Every sports competition taking place in Italy gives a special charge to the athletes: you feel the competition more deeply, everything is different, that is just the way it is: competing in Naples has a different taste. The city, in addition to being wonderful, has one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world”. Italian athlete Samuele Cerro is sure about that: born in 1995, he qualified for the triple jump semi-final on July 10^th. During the preliminary matches on July 8^th at San Paolo Stadium, the main venue for athletics at the XXX Universiade, he completed his performance with a timing of 15.76, finishing third in his tournament and placing ninth in the men’s rank. He has no doubts about his fearsome opponents: “Azerbaijan and Brazil are more likely to win the gold medal”. Despite being born in Montecorvo, near Rome, Cerro is part of the Campanian sports federation and studies Sport Sciences at University of Cassino. So far, he was able to manage “studying and passion for sport, even though I encountered many difficulties”. This is his first Universiade, but not his first time here in Naples, since he visited the city in various occasions, such as during holidays. He thinks that thanks to the University Games, Naples “ becomes even more unique, it feels like being in Rio”, Samuele confesses before talking about his career’s objectives. “I am still half a metre far from the Olympic standard with my time of 16.59 seconds. It is too soon to talk about the Olympic Games: they are, and will always be, the dream of every self-respecting jumper. From the 25^th to the 27^th of July, I will be busy in Bressanone with the Italian championships and later I will go to Doha in Qatar for the World Championships. I plan to stay in the athletics world just one more year and then I will think about my career plans in this sector, maybe putting into practice what I learned through my studies”.