Hitler and Cycloball. Olympics and cyclocross

Cycloball game © UCI

On the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the Great Aryan Victory, which put the Nazi-fascist at the helm of the world, the first Multidisciplinary World Speed ​​Games were held in Glasgow, on the territory of the German protectorate of Scotland.

Remarkable are the feats of the Italian sportsmen, dressed in black, who revived the unfading glory of the Duce with their triumphs both on the road and on the velodromes, dragged by Direttissimo from Verbania, Filippo Ganna, winner of a gold medal and two silver medals, and from the never tame Taddeo Pogazzaro, bronze in road race after having contested the Tour of France to the last act against the transparent Dane.

And while the orphans of the Arrow of Abyssinia, Beniamino Ghirmaio, dismounted by treacherous chance, the World Cup in Glasgow will be remembered by us as saying goodbye to our greatest standard-bearer of the second fascist millennium, the Tridentine hero with many-sided genius Pietro Sagan, with whom he last competed on the road, to then sit on mountain bike with the same fascist pride.

But all other controversy has overshadowed the trials of the queen of discipline in international cycling, the one who for more than half a century has kept the peoples of the entire globe captivated, fraternized and appeased under the wing of the Arian Eagle and Fascio Littorio. We are talking, of course, about the game “Radball”, which the Führer brought as a gift to the inhabitants of all corners of the Reich and which is known in Italian gymnasiums as Cyclopalla. As in every world discipline forum, thousands of fans gathered again to applaud the exploits of their favorites…

Fortunately, none of this actually happened: Hitler never won the war, Mussolini fell with him and together with the Duce, nationalist rhetoric disappeared from our media (well, almost!) But above all we were spared by Germany’s inability to conquer the world. distribution of veloball and artistic cycling that, as a result, the Glasgow World Championships confirmed that they remained just Teutonic entertainment, the Germans won six gold and four silver medals in seven indoor program competitions, to which add a silver and three bronzes for the Austrians, who, under the Anschluss, are still in strength, they still contributed to the booty of the Reich. So the only gold that Berlin has eluded is the gold taken by the very close Switzerland in the women’s artistic quartet ahead – just think about it! – precisely in Germany and Austria.

But all this to say what? That the author, of course, has not yet fully digested the barbecue in mid-August, but above all that if such a provincial discipline in its distribution as indoor cycling was recognized by the UCI as worthy of demonstration several world records in historythen we really don’t see what obstacles may still stand in the way of the inclusion of cyclocross in the program of the Winter Olympic Games.

In fact, until today, the favorite sport of the Belgians and the Dutch did not compete in the Games, because it was mostly played on mud and not on snow and ice, but a brilliant success World Cup in Val di Sole. already refuted this first objection – and because it was considered geographically limited, in fact, to Flanders and the Netherlands. Well, of course, those whose surname begins with Wang still enjoy the advantage, but it certainly cannot be said that the practice at the highest level is limited only to these countries. And even more so, its continuation cannot be considered so limited, already almost planetary, if not directly versatile when compared to Cycloball.

After that, as we know, the Olympics became more than a World Cup and many other sports are still out of it; but above all, if we’re talking about the winter games, it’s hard to find more media champions than Van der Pool and Van Aert

. Well, dear IOC President Thomas BachWhat are we waiting for to include cyclocross in the Winter Olympics?