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Monday, March 12, 2012

Top Italian sprinter supports GaySportMed track meet in Marseille

A message from Giampiero Mancinelli, one of the organizers of the GaySportMed track meet:

Retired Italian sprinter Mario Longo, former European record holder of the 100m dash and the oldest man to run 60 meters under 7 seconds, is proud to support GaySportMed. And we’re so proud to have his support!

It all started on Facebook (of course!) even though I had seen him competing before (from way behind!) in a few indoor championships. To my invitation to come compete in Marseille and enjoy the natural beauties of the region, he replied: "I can’t, I’m not gay!" To this I had to explain that the idea behind GaySportMed is in fact to fight discrimination by doing sport together, gay and straight athletes. To which he managed to give me goose bumps by replying: "Non sarà semplice ma spero di esserci, nel caso non riuscissi ad esserci di persona,sappi che sarò li’ a correre con voi per questa causa almeno con lo spirito!" ("It won’t be easy, but I hope to make it there, and in the case I can’t, let it be known that I’ll be there running with you for this cause, at least in spirit!" That is Mario Longo! I had heard good things about him (not just on the track) from other Italian athletes in the past. And here’s a confirmation! In the hope to see him at the Luminy Stadium, here’s some more info on him from the IAAF.

More on GaySportMed HERE.

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