Born in Romania in 1983, with an Emilian heart, Ana Maria Vitelaru is one of the spearheads of Team Equa, of which Nalini is a technical partner.
We cheered for her during the Paralympics of Paris, where she won the bronze medal in the women's H5 road cycling road race and we meet her now to talk about the cycling season which has just ended, and her upcoming projects.
“Many precious things happened at the Paris Paralympics, but for first I want to say that there was a profound change in me because, during this difficult year, I lost my brother and it's as if I had lost the deepest part of myself. I tried not to get down and I never gave up, just as he never gave up until the end. My great desire to win a medal was because I wanted to dedicate it to him in order to make him immortal and so it was. The thought of him and of achieving this goal helped me to be very focused on what I wanted. My coach, in fact, confessed to me that we have never trained so intensely and that medal is a miracle for me.”
How do you rate the public's interest in you?
“It has ncreased compared to before, you know it was really non-existent. I have received many requests to do interviews, such as from IO donna or from Rai in Bologna. Even in Paris, the journalists wrote everything about my life, so the balance is very positive, but the attention to the message I have been spreading through sport for years is still not enough.”
Upcoming projects?
“The only regret of this season was my World Championship which, being a road race, made me demand more from myself - I was defeated at the finish line in the sprint by my opponent - so one of my future goals is definitely to wear the world champion jersey again. Then I am starting to write a book that will be an educational manual with the advice of a psychologist and a mental coach. In short, I never stop, I want to participate in more national and international races and, in addition to the world championship, I also aim for the pink jersey.”
In the picture, by Paolo Codeluppi, Vitelaru wears the uniform for the EQUA team, whose jacket, in four color variations, is the NEW ROAD LADY Jkt from the latest winter collection.
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