On Wednesday 3 December 2014 at the headquarters of Podini Holding – museum of the Olympic torches – the councilor for sport Martha Stocker and Stefano Podini, as president of the Olympic Aid and Sport Promotion Project Association, presented a check to the South Tyrolean athletes Claudia Schuler (bike) and Ivan Tratter (tennis) who will have to bear a lot of expenses for next year in preparation for qualifying for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
The councilor for health and sport, work, social and equal opportunities Martha Stocker enthusiastically accepted the invitation of the association because she shares the initiative undertaken by the president Stefano Podini and has this theme very much at heart and wanted to be present to underline the importance that not only the public contribution but also the private economy must and can give to athletes in general and even more so to Paralympic and disabled athletes, in the hope that events of this type will take place more and more often to give support to those who have found a new positive life motivation thanks to sport”.
President Stefano Podini recalled the activities of the association, which has the main purpose of raising funds to support sports projects and disabled athletes, arguing that he would very much like to confirm support for these two Paralympic athletes again next year, close to the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 in view of a possible qualification and the related costs that follow with the trip to Brazil. He also illustrated the new project “The fascinating evolution of the design of the Olympic torches” which provides for the display of the collection of Olympic torches – which we remember is one of the most complete in the world – at modern art museums. The project was welcomed with great interest by sector operators and negotiations are underway with some museums. In addition to the summary brochure of this journey, totems have been prepared for each edition describing the torch and the journey it has made, a journey that begins in Greece in 1896 with the reintroduction of the modern Olympic Games by Pierre de Coubertin and reaches the present day in Sochi Russia in 2014.
In addition to the councilor Martha Stocker and the members of the commission (Stefano Podini, Renzo Stenico, Hansi Dalvai, Heinz Gutweniger and Stefan Leitner) were also present Markus Kompatscher, president of the South Tyrolean Disabled Sports Group and Armin Hölzl (Councillor for sports activities of the Autonomous Province of Bozen). Stefano Podini has given the entire collection of Olympic torches on free loan to the association, which is one of the most complete in the world and consists of 37 original torches of which only 1 is a reproduction. This traveling museum is made available to companies, sponsors of sporting/Olympic events, museums, banks, and other subjects and bodies interested in holding an exhibition and events in general.
In the photo from left: the councilor for sport Martha Stocker, Renzo Stenico (ANAOAI), Hansi Dalvai (Sporthilfe), Heinz Gutweniger (CONI), Stefan Leitner (Sporthilfe), Stefano Podini, Armin Hölzl (Councillor for sports activities of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano ), Claudia Schuler and Ivan Tratter.
