So, with all this hype of the Olympics, I thought I had better post something related to it. Rather than news of the actual games; sports are something I know extremely little about; here is a post about an Italian Olympic athlete instead. Alex Giorgetti is a water polo player for the Italian men's team, which is nicknamed Settebello. The Italian water polo team is one of the best in the world, over the years it has accumulated six Olympic medals in the sport, also winning 5 World Championships, 5 World Cups, 10 European Championships medals, and one World League medal.
Alex Giorgetti was born on the 24th of December 1987, in Budapest, Hungary and with dual-citizenship, has also lived part of his life in Savona, Italy. He stands at a height of 187cm and has the current weight of 78kg. He plays for Pro Recco and in 2011, Giorgetti won World's Best Water Polo Player. Also, he plays as number five, my favourite number and the number of Fabio Cannavaro in Forza Azzurri.
I can't seem to find any videos on youtube that I can actually understand; there are more uploaded interviews in Hungarian than in Italian. I should get my Hungarian friend to translate them for me haha. But here are a few anyway:
I did, however, find an interesting interview with Giorgetti about his conversion to Catholicism and a visit to the pilgrimage site of Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where apparently, people have seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The entire phenomenon is not endorsed by the Catholic Church and it has come under much scrutiny and criticism; though that hasn't stopped the estimated 30 million who have visited the site since 1981, when the apparitions were first reported. The whole thing kind of seems like a psychological scam, but what Giorgetti said about his faith is quite fascinating. (I have had to edit the English translation because it didn't make sense, but have only made minor grammatical corrections.)
'Poiché l'Italia non vinceva il campionato del mondo da ben vent’anni, ho preso la decisione che se avessimo raggiunto un buon risultato sarei venuto a Medjugorje a ringraziare Gesù per questo. Non solo siamo diventati campioni del mondo, ma sono anche stato premiato come miglior giocatore del campionato. Ecco perché ho deciso di venire a ringraziare Gesù e Nostra Signora per tutte le grazie che mi ha concesso. Ho salito la collina dell’Apparizione e la montagna della Croce a piedi nudi ed è stata un esperienza davvero bella per me. Mi sento contento e soddisfatto e non vedo l’ora di tornare in Italia a testimoniare la bellezza di questo luogo. Sono arrivato qui con mio fratello gemello. Prima, non ci parlavamo; ne mai gli ho detto che gli volevo bene. Non è mai andato in chiesa, non ha mai pregato e ora per la prima volta qui è andato a confessarsi ed alla santa messa. Vedo tutto ciò come frutto della mia conversione e sono davvero felice di vederlo così allegro, non era mai successo in passato. Non era stato fortunato come me nella vita, perché era nato con un handycap fisico e tutto ciò lo ha influenzato. I nostri genitori ci hanno sempre separati in tutto quello che dovevamo fare. Mia madre ha dimostrato più affetto a me ed io ero quello con i vestiti migliori, i giocattoli, quello che ha ricevuto più caramelle e dolci durante il periodo della nostra infanzia. Lei vedeva che amavo gli sport e che ero portato per la pallanuoto e per l’allenamento in piscina. Ho avuto una vita perfetta; Ero giovane, di bell’aspetto e di successo, mentre mio fratello era solo e triste. Ero troppo egoista per vederlo. Non ho avuto necessità di comunicare molto con la mia famiglia perché ho avuto tutto dalla vita: soldi, ragazze e carriera. Ma tutto questo non è durato troppo a lungo. Ho concluso il lungo rapporto che avevo con la mia ragazza. La amavo davvero, ma era interessata soltanto a soldi ed alla gloria. Ho rifiutato l'invito del Coach nella nostra nazionale ed ero completamente disperato, distrutto, senza famiglia, amici, senza ragazza e carriera.
Ero sull'orlo della depressione. Poco dopo conobbi una coppia di fratelli gemelli che hanno condiviso con me la storia della loro conversione. La loro storia mi ha toccato profondamente ed ho deciso di raccontare loro i miei problemi, la mia solitudine ed il mio disagio. Ho desiderato l’aiuto di Gesù, per cambiare vita e darmi la pace che desideravo così profondamente. Da quel momento sono cominciati i cambiamenti nella mia vita. Mi sono confessato, ho iniziato ad andare alla santa messa, a leggere la Sacra Bibbia e ad aiutare i poveri. La mia vita è cambiata completamente. I rapporti con la mia famiglia e con la gente sono cambiati, pieni di significato, la mia carriera è avanzata e sono diventato una persona nuova. Era semplicemente Dio che volgeva tutto al bene.
La mia famiglia ed i miei amici hanno letto della mia conversione sui giornali, e quando ho deciso di condividere tutto con la gente sono rimasti molto sorpresi. La cosa più bella è quando potete vivere nella verità ed essere chi realmente siete. La mia nuova vita è appena cominciata ed il mio desiderio è di incontrare Gesù ogni giorno di più. Spero che la mia storia sia di esempio per altri giovani affinché cambino vita e capiscano che senza Gesù le loro vite sono senza senso.' (Alex Giorgetti)
'Since Italy has not won the World Championship in the last twenty years, I made the decision that if we achieved a good result, I would come to Medjugorje and thank Jesus for that. Not only did we become the World Championship Winners, but I was awarded as the best player of the Championship. That is why I decided to come and thank Jesus and Our Lady for all of the graces they bestowed upon me. I climbed Apparition Hill and Cross Mountain in my bare feet, and that was such a beautiful experience for me. I feel content and fulfilled and cannot wait to return to Italy so I can be a witness about the beauty of this place. I arrived here with my twin brother. Before, we never spoke together; I never told him that I loved him. He never went to church, never prayed and now for the first time he went to confession and Holy Mass here. I see all of that as fruits of my conversion and I am so happy to see him as joyful as he is, that was never the case in the past. He was not as lucky as I was in my life, because he was born with a physical disability and all of that influenced him. Our parents always separated us in everything we were to do. Mother showed more affection to me and I was the one with better clothes, toys, the one who received more candies and sweets throughout the time of our childhood. She could see that I loved sports and that I was talented for water polo and she was always taking me for training practice at swimming pools. I had the perfect life; I was young, good-looking, and successful while my brother was lonely and sad. I was even too selfish to see that. I did not have a need to talk to my family because I had everything else in my life: money, girlfriends and a successful career. But all of that did not last too long. I ended the long relationship that I had with my girlfriend. I loved her sincerely, but she was interested only in money and glory. I rejected an invitation from our National Team Coach and I was completely desperate, broke, without family, friends, without a girlfriend and a career.
I was nearly in depression. Shortly afterwards, I got to meet a pair of twin brothers who shared their story of conversion with me. Their story touched me deeply and I decided to share with them my own problems, my loneliness and my restlessness. I wanted Jesus to heal me, to change my life and give me peace that I was longing for so deeply. That is when changes started to take place in my life. I confessed, started going to Holy Mass, reading the Holy Bible, and helping the poor. My life was changed completely. Relationships with my family and other people became different, full of meaning; my career was advancing again and I became a new person. It was simply because God turns everything to good.
My family and my friends read about my conversion in newspapers, after that I decided to share with other people and they were truly surprised. The most beautiful thing is when you are able to live the truth and to be what you really are. My new life has just begun and my desire is to meet Jesus more and more with each day. I hope my story will be an example to other young people to change their lives and to understand that nothing in their lives makes sense without Jesus.' (Alex Giorgetti)
