ITALY: Special Olympics attends Ambrosetti Workshop

Federica Pellegrini and Special Olympics Italy attended the 35th Ambrosetti Workshop (4-6 September 2009) in Cernobbio, Italy.

In early September, at Villa d'Este in Cernobbio (Como), The European House-Ambrosetti organizes a forum which has come to be  one of the most important annual meetings worldwide.  Heads of state, top representatives of European institutions, cabinet ministers, Nobel laureates, businessmen, managers and experts from around the world have come together every year since 1975 to discuss current issues of great importance for the world economy and society as a whole.  For more information, please click HERE. 

For the seventh year in a row, Special Olympics Italy has been invited to attend and participated in the event with Elena Fossati and Stefano Meda, two Special Olympics swimmers. 

Federica Pellegrini, world swimming champion, accompanied the two Special Olympics athletes on stage. The Italian champion showed her suppoort towards the Special Olympics movement, and promised to participate in the upcoming National Games that will take place in Monza, Italy in July 2010.

While speaking about her recently released book “Io nuoto per amore” (“I swim for love”), Pellegrini confessed being scared of swimming in deep water. In reply, Meda gave her a advice which took the public by surprise and gained him an “ocean” of applauses. “You need to try and overcome your own fears,” he told the champion. 

Photo: (From left to right) M. Ambrosetti, W. McGurn, F. Pellegrini A. Palazzotti with Special Olympics Swimmers E. Fossati and S. Meda.(Courtesy of Special Olympics Italy)