A historic day for Italian athletics, graced by a special announcement ahead of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships: “I will be there of course. I don’t know how many times, I hope to be present at least at the opening.” President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella said this as he met at the Quirinale with the Italian national track and field team that won the European Cup in Poland and the national modern pentathlon team that became World Team Champions in England.

“The appreciation for you is very great because you convey a message of commitment, sacrifice and dedication,” Mattarella added, congratulating Italian captain Gianmarco Tamberi and all the athletes present.

“Today we learned with infinite joy and extreme satisfaction that President Mattarella wants to be present at the Olympic Stadium already on the opening day of the European Championships and will try to attend the competitions of our champions as many times as possible,” said President of the Italian Athletics Federation and EuroRoma 2024 Foundation Stefano Mei.

The ceremony was also attended by Coni President Giovanni Malagò, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Andrea Abodi and Italian Modern Pentathlon Federation President Fabrizio Bittner, as well as Coni Secretary General Carlo Leonardo Mornati and the technical directors and athletes of the two teams.

“These two federations had never been received ‘alone’ in the home of the Italians: it happens because there has been an incredible and repeated series of successes. In 2024 we will have the European Championships at home, where we hope you can honor us with your presence, and then Paris, where we trust that you will make us feel your presence, your affection and expertise, your passion for sports but also the sharing of certain moments,” Malagò said addressing Mattarella.

“Representing Italy is an honor, but it also brings pressure. And this, too often accentuated, injures the innermost part of us. I ask that we recognize our humanity,” Tamberi’s message.

Eurovision Sport has today launched a search for pioneering sports broadcasting tech founders, in partnership with HYPE Sports Innovation.
With a focus on the European Athletics Championships hosted in Rome next year, Eurovision Sport will harness HYPE’s extensive sports tech network and expertise to find innovative startups with solutions that address numerous industry challenges in areas such as production and engineering, and digital streaming.

This partnership initiative directly supports Eurovision Sport’s mission to keep the best sporting events free and accessible to audiences throughout Europe, whilst remaining adaptive to an ever-evolving industry.

Head of Audio & Innovation for Eurovision Sport Christophe Pasquier said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with HYPE Sports Innovation as this partnership marks the dawn of a fresh era in the realm of media and broadcasting, where state-of-the-art solutions are poised to enhance the viewer’s experience to levels previously uncharted.”

Founder & CEO of HYPE Sports Innovation Amir Raveh said: “Collaborating with Eurovision Sport, we’re set to redefine the future of media and broadcasting with innovative solutions that will change the game.”

European Athletics Association Communications, Television & Digital Director Marcel Wakim said: “This year marks the 26th edition of the European Athletics Championships, and with a more diverse programme of events than ever before we’re excited at the potential this initiative has to innovatively impact our flagship event.”

For the first time in an Olympic-year edition of the European Athletics Championships, the men’s and women’s 20km race walk will feature on the competition programme in Rome from 7-12 June. And the race walking events will enjoy star billing in the Italian capital.
For the first time at any major championships since the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing – and for the first time at the European Athletics Championships since Gothenburg 2006 – the races will conclude inside the main stadium and the winners will be crowned in the Stadio Olimpico.
The race walkers will embark on 19 laps of the Foro Italico – the city’s iconic Olympic Park – before concluding their journeys in the Stadio Olimpico where huge crowds are anticipated throughout the championships, the first time Roma has staged the European Athletics Championships since 1974.

“Often when we think of European institutions we think of them as an agglomeration of bureaucracy living a detached existence from the plane of reality, but without the social, cultural and sports infrastructure every single action we take would be in vain. This is also why sports is one of our main areas of action also envisaged by the Lisbon Treaty, representing a vector for promoting the values of inclusion and active participation, spreading correct lifestyles. Organizing and hosting an international event such as the European Athletics Championships will allow Italy to start paths to raise awareness, especially among the younger generations, about the importance of physical and motor activity, precisely at a time when our country and most European countries are experiencing a worrying increase in sedentariness with serious effects on both physical and mental health. Bringing younger people into the sports system means ensuring their rights and emancipation, particularly in the most distressed geographical and urban areas, primarily in the South. The appointment in Rome will therefore be an opportunity to reconnect a piece of our country to sports and in particular to a historical discipline with wide penetration capacity like athletics,” said Pina Picierno.