With the closing ceremony fresh in mind, the athletes will look back at the Berlin Special Olympics with a smile on their face and tons of experience and impressions in their back pocket. Discover the Games spoke to the eloquent Italian basketball player Carlo Mischiatti from Turin, host city of the Special Winter Olympics 2025, who got the chance to meet with Italian president Sergio Mattarella.
By Walter Tempelman
The Italian basketball team is a mixed squad. Men and women playing together, each one of them proud to represent their country. For Carlo it’s been a long ride to get there. “It’s a result of seven years training, but in fact it started earlier, when I was about 8 years old.” As a kid Carlo didn’t play with athletes with disabilities, he was part of a mainstream team. But he didn’t feel included and left the team.
“When I turned 13, I found out about the Special Olympics and picked up basketball again. From then on I could feel my passion coming back and I started to live and breathe basketball everywhere. In halls, outside playgrounds, wherever. I wear the number 13 on my jersey now, because that was my age when I returned and started with the Special Olympics team.” But doesn’t the number 13 stands for bad luck? “Ask Paul George, he might disagree with you”, is the witty answer of the Italian, referring to the outstanding NBA-player of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Evolving stories
Back when Carlo was eight years old, at about 2008, it wasn’t really accepted or viewed in a good light if a person with disabilities played sport in a regular team. “Now, it’s getting better, which is heartwarming for me”, says Carlo. “But in the team I am now, we all feel completely part of it, it’s amazing. With this team I can be totally myself. I don’t see players on the field. I see evolving stories. Some of us were having problems walking, now they can run a bit. Some of us, like me, were afraid of the ball, now we play as a dynamic team. All of the stories together tell the story of the Special Olympics.”
Besides being a basketball player, Carlo is a pretty good bowling player as well. And funnily enough that got him to meet Italian president Sergio Mattarella. “In 2019 I received a letter from the president that I had been nominated becoming MBE. I was a good bowling player, but I didn’t get access to a higher level, so I decided to lift people I was playing with to a higher level. Those were people who couldn’t talk or were aggressive. I trained them and taught them to improve. The staff and other people I worked with appreciated that so much, they send a letter to the president.”
Carlo was among the 25 people selected to meet Mattarella. The handshake and talk with the Italian president was a highlight, but the real excitement came when Carlo got back in Turin. “The reception was so heartwarming. That’s the group that wants me there, that appreciates the work. I always say I don’t want other people to go through, what I went through, I want to shelter them for that. I do that with my heart, not for prestige.”
In the basketball hall at the Messe in Berlin, the Special Winter Olympics of 2025 may feel really far away, but there is a possibility Carlo participates in his home town. He has already started training in… snow shoeing. “It may be a bit of strange sport, but I’m interested in it. I won the 400 meter at the national games. So yeah, maybe I’ll be there as an athlete. I truly hope so!”