The goal is clear: at the Paralympics in Paris, judoka Carolina Costa from Messina is aiming for an “important” medal. Serious knee injury behind himwhich had put her participation in the five-ring event at risk, the athlete from Peloritani aims to improve on the bronze won in Tokyo 2020, confirming the first place at the world championships in Birmingham in 2023 and Baku in 2022.
A career phase full of satisfactions for Carolina Costa: «The last period – she says in the interview also granted to the Italian Paralympic Committee – has been a succession of great results, a constant path after Tokyo. My goal is to return to step on the tatami and then also the podium, improving on that third place: in Japan I had to settle for the bronze medal, so now we will try to climb a few more steps». Overcoming the knee problem, after a lot of physiotherapy in the best specialist centers in Italyconfirms the great resilience and character of Carolina Costa, unable to give up in the face of obstacles: «An injury that came in the last qualifying tournament that, among other things, I could have even not done because I had already qualified. I just wanted to test the opponents and the level of work I had done up to that point. I had to undergo surgery, I thought it was over there – continues the judoka from Messina – and that the road to Paris had been interrupted, but immediately a “rebirth” mechanism was triggered in me, a desire to have to do it, because I didn’t want to let this dream slip away and I had to make it come true. I told myself that I could do it this time too: I have overcome so many things in life and this was just one more thing. And so it was, Carolina did it this time too!» Carolina Costa has a character shaped by sport, having just returned from the training camp in Valencia, Spain, with her national teammates Valerio Romano Teodori, Dongdong Camanni, Simone Cannizzaro and Matilde Lauria. Daughter of art, her father is the late maestro Franco Costa, her mother is Katarzyna Juszczak, protagonist at the Olympics in Barcelona 1992 and Athens 2004, Carolina has found in her discipline those foundations that are also useful in everyday life: «A training course for the obstacles and adversities of life. It helps on an emotional and personality level, because judo also prepares for self-control, but in general the athlete leads a different life, richer, with fewer fears and uncertainties». Carolina Costa will compete at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday 7 September in the “J2 +70kg” category that groups visually impaired athletes with low residual vision. In the morning, from 9:30, the preliminary rounds are scheduled, while the finals will start at 15:30.
