La luce delle Olimpiadi invernali del 1956 non si è mai spenta del tutto sulle Dolomiti. A riaccenderla, con commozione, è Tenley Albright, la pattinatrice statunitense che a soli vent’anni conquistò l’oro sul ghiaccio di Cortina, diventando la prima donna americana a vincere il titolo olimpico nel pattinaggio artistico. Il suo volto, il suo sorriso e le sue parole aprono la serie «Words of Olympians», raffinati videoritratti in cui protagonisti dello sport raccontano la loro storia e il significato più profondo della sfida olimpica e che verranno proiettati prima di ogni incontro della XXXII edizione di «Una Montagna di Libri». Un progetto in collaborazione con l'Olympic Museum di Losanna. «Volevo soltanto volare». E in un certo senso non ha mai smesso. Tenley Albright aveva vent’anni quando incantò il pubblico delle Olimpiadi invernali del 1956, volando sul ghiaccio di Cortina con grazia e determinazione. Prima donna statunitense a vincere l’oro olimpico nel pattinaggio artistico, diventò un simbolo della bellezza che nasce dalla tenacia. Oggi, alla soglia dei novant’anni, la sua voce torna limpida e luminosa nel primo video della serie Words of Olympians, proiettata in apertura del festival Una Montagna di Libri. L’emozione in sala è stata palpabile.La sua è una storia americana nella forma più nobile: la lotta contro la poliomielite da bambina, la vittoria nello sport che più richiede agilità e controllo, la laurea in medicina a Harvard, la vita in un quartiere borghese del New England dove chiedeva al padre di ghiacciare il cortile per potersi allenare con i pattini. In un inglese nordico e sagace, Tenley ricorda i tempi della malattia, la paura del contagio, ma anche la fiducia nella scienza: «I vaccini hanno praticamente eradicato la polio», dice, tracciando un parallelo con l’Hiv e con il nostro presente.Nel 2006, tornata allo stadio del ghiaccio di Cortina, ha rivisto l’ombra della sua finale. «Erano le due del pomeriggio, proprio come allora. Ho capito che l’ombra che attraversava il ghiaccio era la stessa. E ho pensato: no, non me lo sto immaginando». È quella stessa linea d’ombra che ora attraversa questo video breve e delicatissimo, prodotto dal Museo Olimpico di Losanna e ora accolto da Cortina come un preludio poetico verso le Olimpiadi del 2026.Un racconto che riannoda il tempo. Perché certi voli non atterrano mai davvero.
00:30And I got skates, but they were hockey skates, and I persuaded them to exchange them for figure skates. So that was the beginning. I did persuade my father to flood the backyard one winter, and he was very anxious to please me, I guess.
00:47It didn't last very long, not only because the winter didn't last long enough, but my mother found that all the neighborhood children would come over and say to her, Mrs. Albright, would you please put my skates on?
00:57And I was taken to the hospital, and I won't have to stay overnight, will I? But I ended up being there about two and a half months.
01:06And the diagnosis was polio, but my parents apparently didn't want me to know, so they had the sign taken off my door.
01:16And there was a nurse who came in one time and said, oh, one of my other polio patients, and so I said, is that what I have? She said, mm-hmm.
01:25So the next nurse who came in, I asked her to bring me a dictionary, and that's how I found out.
01:32When it was time for me to be discharged, both doctors said to my parents, you have to understand that other parents are not going to want their children to play with tannery,
01:43because they won't want to catch polio. It struck me years later that, of course, that's what happened with HIV.
01:52We didn't know how it was spread. We didn't know anything about it. But the exciting thing is, over the years, having the vaccines developed,
02:01and now the fact that we've almost eradicated polio in the world.
02:07I loved the idea of flying. In fact, I broke a number of umbrellas for my friends jumping off the garage roof, because I'm trying to jump down a flight of stairs, and I just wanted to fly.
02:21So when I went out on the ice for the school figures, the referee came over to me and said, little girl, don't be nervous.
02:29So I said, well, I'm not nervous. And he said, oh, I know you're nervous. Yes, you're nervous.
02:35And this went on so much so that when I got off the ice, somebody said to me, what were you talking to the referee so long about?
02:44I tried to convince him I wasn't nervous.
02:46I always loved the choreography and the creativity and making up new jumps and new things.
02:51And I used to spend hours and hours in record stores looking for my music.
02:57So you would choose your music. It wasn't culture choreography.
03:00No. Not only choose it, I would sit on the floor in my bedroom with a phonograph and a little straight edge razor and a tape.
03:08And I would cut my own records, you know, when we when you choose something to skate to, you don't have just the whole symphony from beginning to end.
03:17You cut little parts out of it.
03:20My mother always said, I bet those composers are turning over in their graves.
03:23I don't remember exactly how early I arrived to the Olympics, but it was about maybe a little less than two weeks.
03:32We all did that because we had to get used to outdoor skating, outdoor ice.
03:37It was crazy because I hadn't been injured before, but it was in a practice session and I was it was a beautiful day and I was skating fast backwards.
03:45And I noticed that there was a photographer taking pictures of some of the other skaters, so I didn't want to have it look as if I was trying to get in the background.
03:53And so I swerved a little bit and hit a deep rut and it just threw me.
03:57And apparently when I came down, the heel of one skate went right into the ankle.
04:04And then there was a doctor who was assigned to the rink and he wanted to cut off my skate to get to the injury.
04:09And I said, no, no, no, you don't cut off my skate.
04:12And there was a woman who found a shoemaker in the village and he was able to stitch it up for me.
04:18That was not a good experience because I missed the opening ceremonies.
04:23I had to look out my bedroom window at the ceremony.
04:27And it was also such a beautiful village.
04:32The whole village was taken over as the Olympic village.
04:36It was just a beautiful setting.
04:37The first time you go into the Olympic village, it's just mesmerizing.
04:42I was not prepared for that.
04:45The idea that we were all there for the Olympics, for the same thing, totally different events, totally different countries, totally different backgrounds.
04:55Didn't know each other.
04:56But once we went through those gates, it just makes me choke up.
05:02And we need the Olympics when you think of what's happening in the world and the divisiveness and the problems we are having in this country about getting together.
05:18But when you're at the Olympics, you might say it's political because you're representing your country, which is a wonderful feeling.
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