The Italian press focused this Sunday on the former Formula 1 driver and four-time Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi, who died at the age of 59, whom it dismissed as a legend and national symbol, in recognition of an extraordinary sporting career.
Italian newspapers, both general and sports, dedicated their covers to the athlete with a final tribute, highlighting a career marked by resilience and the ability to overcome tragedy, which made him a reference for transalpine improvement and courage.
“Superhero. Goodbye to the man of impossible feats,” headlined the sports newspaper with the largest national circulation, The Gazzetta dello Sport, who defined Zanardi as “a pilot with a life always on the edge.”
He Corriere dello Sportanother of the most relevant sports newspapers, dedicated the entire space of its cover to the athlete: “Alex lives. Zanardi, an extraordinary man who taught us to redesign life, has died. Italy and sport mourn the infinite champion.”
While the diary Tuttosportfamous for annually awarding the Golden Boy award, highlighted the former pilot as “the champion of the impossible.” “Your lesson forever,” they printed on the cover.
The sports media were joined this Sunday, on a key day also because Inter Milan can become league champion if they score points, by large general media, such as the Corriere della Sera, who wrote: “There was Alex Zanardi, twice. A champion of life forever.”
EITHER The Republicwhich dedicated a space on the side of its cover to say goodbye to a “champion who never gave up,” and The Stampa, with the headline “The Legend of Alex.”
Zanardi, whose death was announced last Saturday by his family, was an Italian Formula One driver and prominent Paralympic athlete, born in Bologna in 1966, whose career was marked by talent and an extraordinary capacity for self-improvement.
He competed in 44 Formula 1 events between 1991 and 1994 and in 1999 with the Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams teams, and in 2001 he suffered a serious accident on the German Lausitzring circuit during a CART test, after which his legs were amputated.
Far from abandoning the sport, he returned to competition in the World Touring Car Championship with an adapted BMW and later found new motivation in handcycling, a discipline in which he won the New York Marathon in 2011 and won four Paralympic gold medals, two in London 2012 and another two in Rio 2016, becoming an international symbol of resilience. (D)
