The extraordinary international achievement of German tennis star Alexander Zverev, an athlete who lives with type 1 diabetes, represents yet another demonstration that this condition does not pose an obstacle to reaching the pinnacle of global sport.
The ambassadors of the Italian Federation of Diabetology Societies FeSDI (AMD-SID) – Giulio Gaetani, a national-team fencer, Anna Arnaudo, a national track and field athlete, and Federico Rizzardi, a national-team swimmer – emphasize how the successes of international and national champions with type 1 diabetes demonstrate the absolute incompatibility between scientific evidence and the persistence of barriers to the recruitment of top athletes with type 1 diabetes into Military Sports Groups.
Overcoming the Stigma
The pairing of sport and diabetes is still too often marked by stigma: the erroneous belief that people with diabetes cannot engage in athletic activity. This prejudice is reinforced by an Italian law dating back to 1932, which still today prevents athletes with diabetes from entering the military sports groups.
«Every time a type 1 diabetes athlete reaches world-class results, it confirms what we athletes experience daily: diabetes does not define our limits. The successes of Alexander Zverev, as well as those of many other international champions, show that with the right technologies, medical support, and proper management of the condition it is possible to compete at the highest levels. – explains Anna Arnaudo – For this reason it appears increasingly anachronistic and hard to understand the persistence of constraints that prevent athletes with type 1 diabetes from entering the Military Sports Groups. Sport should be the place of merit, performance and competence, not discrimination.»
«In my experience as a national team athlete – says Giulio Gaetani – I have learned that type 1 diabetes requires commitment, discipline and planning ability, qualities that add value to high-level sport. The victories and results achieved by athletes like Zverev demonstrate unequivocally that diabetes does not compromise the ability to reach sporting excellence. Today there is scientific knowledge, devices, and protocols that enable safe management of the condition. Continuing to uphold automatic exclusions from athletic recruitment seems a choice no longer justifiable. We trust that the competent institutions will finally address this issue with determination and a spirit of fairness.
«Sport teaches that talent, hard work and determination should be the only criteria used to evaluate an athlete.» – adds Federico Rizzardi – «When we see an international champion with type 1 diabetes compete and win at the highest levels, we understand how far some prejudices have been overcome. Many young athletes with diabetes look to these examples as a message of hope and possibility. It is important that the Italian sports system also take up this message, removing obstacles that today have no medical, scientific, or sporting justification.»
Against the backdrop of substantial scientific evidence and the examples set by world-class champions, athletes express their confidence that CONI, the national sports federations, the Military Sports Groups, Parliament, ministries and the responsible institutions will address this issue with urgency and decisively, identifying solutions that value sporting merit and guarantee equal opportunities for athletes with type 1 diabetes.
Abbonati a Karla Miller
