It’s one smile after another Zaynab Dosso. He was smiling on the track at the start of the 100 meters at the European Championships in Rome, he smiles during the interview. MThe fastest woman in Italy who runs the 100 meters in 11 and 01 tested positive. Practically the time it takes to read a couple of lines. She was born in Ivory Coast in 1999 and there she remained with her maternal grandmother until 2009 when she arrived in Rubiera, Reggio Emilia, joining the family who had moved in 2002. Since 2016 she has been an Italian citizen. She has always run for Italy, ever since a teacher saw her abilities in middle school. From the school championships she moved on to the nationals and reached the Olympics: Tokyo three years ago and now Paris where she arrives fresh from the European bronze. At each race she changes her hairstyle and often her nails too. «Each race is different and it’s like entering a character».
Looking at his Instagram profile you see many photos of races and less and less private photos.
«I realized that the more you achieve results, the more people go to look at your private things. I’m starting to show less of my private life.”
A wise choice. His name, Zaynab, means wisdom. Is she wise?
«Yes, my name reflects me. In recent times I have become reflective when I have to make important decisions.”
What other qualities do you recognize?
«I’m stubborn to the core and I’m not afraid of anything. Last year, despite three injuries, after each one I returned to the track without fear of getting hurt. I’m determined. I don’t set limits for myself, but this also leads to a lot of risk: it can become a double-edged sword.”
The most important quality for an athlete?
«Right now I would say the outline. Those who are around you and what is around you because it is what can destroy you or make you reach the top.”
To whom or what do you need to say thank you for what you have come to be and do?
«For the woman I am today I have to say thanks to my grandmother who always raised me, who always advised me. For what I managed to do, I thank all the people who have been along my path starting from my old coach (Loredana Riccardi, of Corradini Excelsior Rubiera ed.) who was a mother to me, in difficult moments, when my family couldn’t cope. She always had my back, she never made me feel like there were any problems. It was she who told me to go to Rome, she told me that she could do great athletics. I will thank her for life because if I am here today, going through so many bad things, I truly owe it to her.”
The first thing that struck you about Italy?
«So, without thinking, I say ice cream. It was something I had never eaten. I arrived in winter and from spring, in the first moments when I started going out more, we went to get ice cream. The most beautiful thing about Italy is the food, while I rediscovered the authenticity of the people when I returned to the Ivory Coast in recent years.”
When did you realize you could do great athletics?
«When I was a little girl I beat the boys and I always won in the category championships. In the absolutes I was fourth or fifth and these results saved me from partying and skipping training around the age of 16-17. I understood that it could become my job, a job that is a privilege because not everyone is lucky enough to turn their passion into a job, even if it is demanding. I see my mother waking up every day at 5 in the morning to do her job, a real job, but not her passion.”
Do you really like running? Have you always liked it?
«Yes, but I must say that in recent years my commitment has been more light-hearted. When I go to camp I train and have fun. Just joined my sports group (Zaynab Dosso is part of the Fiamme Azzurre, the Sports Group of the Penitentiary Police ed), I felt more pressure of having to prove that I was capable of being 18 years old. I also spent a few years in the dark because when you chase something so hard it’s harder to reach it, you create so many monsters. Now I have fun, even if we train for four hours, I leave satisfied with what I did.”
How do you live the definition of the fastest woman in Italy?
«I have this awareness because since I was a little girl when I always set the Italian record in the 60 meters, but it didn’t arrive in the 100 and 200. Now it has arrived and it was written in my destiny. I believe so much. I have faith and this is my path.”
Who taught her the faith?
«My maternal grandmother who I grew up with in Ivory Coast, she is still there in Man. It was just me and her. I accompanied her to the mosque, slept next to her. From her I learned resilience: I know that there are yes moments and no moments, I know that not everything always goes smoothly, I know that there are happy moments and sad moments.”
If you are told Paris what do you think?
«Today, in a positive moment, I say the Olympic final, a dream that I have always had. This is my goal. If you tell me Paris, with my eyes closed I say: “I’m working towards an Olympic final”. Then yes, Paris is one of my favorite cities, I did my eighteenth there.”
Has Tokyo 2020, the Olympics different from all the others, taught anything?
«A light bulb went on for me in Tokyo. She taught everyone something: to get involved, to try.”
However, he did not get the Olympic rings tattoo.
«I have an elephant tattoo in 2020, after the pandemic. We then all tried to get in touch with part of ourselves and I rediscovered my family in Ivory Coast, not only my grandmother, but also my cousins. The elephant represents Ivory Coast and never gives up, like me. I didn’t want to make the five circles because Tokyo didn’t arrive at a good time. I have the writing blessedbecause we must remember at all times that we are blessed.”
There couldn’t be anyone in Tokyo. Who will be in Paris to follow her?
«My boyfriend will be there. I’m happy when my family is there, but I don’t mind when my loved ones aren’t there because I don’t even have to think about how they are.”
Paris is also the first Olympics with gender equality.
«Incredible to think that we have only gotten there now: it’s nice that women are equal in number, but many things are still missing, starting with sponsorships which are higher for men and this allows them to play sports at a higher level. Even Allyson Felix, the most medal-winning woman in athletics, had her sponsorships cut due to her maternity leave. I have to work twice as hard as a man of my level to reach the same goal.”
A form of lack of inclusion. Not the only one.
“For me it’s frustrating to talk about inclusion because I still see so many racist comments and I don’t see any progress, especially when too many articles and headlines still highlight a characteristic of the athlete, his origin and not his sporting result.”
How important is the head, mental health, in your sport?
«It counts almost as much as the training I do every day. I have been undergoing a process with a psychologist for two years and it has helped a lot. We think we are machines that go on the track, but what the mind does is impressive. The mind must be ready when the body must reach perfection.”
Other sports?
“The basketball. When I was a kid my cousin played basketball and I went to watch her. I’m passionate about Lebron James. I went crazy for the African Cup of Football following the Ivory Coast. Among the women, Serena Williams and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a sprinter, already a mother, who at 38 sets the same times she did twenty years ago.”
Motherhood is a crucial time for female athletes.
“Absolutely. It is not a given that you, for example, will return to running at these levels after maternity leave. Mother athletes should be given a medal only for the path they have had. It’s already difficult to sit still for a day. Imagine after pregnancy.”
The best and worst thing about athletics?
«The best thing is that everything depends on you, the worst thing is that sometimes, even in sport which should be more meritocratic, with times and measures, there is no meritocracy. And then it takes away a little from your family and loved ones. My friends are in Reggio Emilia and I struggled to get used to Rome without them.”
Leisure?
«On my off days I always wear heels, even if I have to go shopping. Jumping from series to series. I listen to a lot of music: Afrobeat especially and I don’t even miss a song by Burna Boy, to listen to until a few minutes before the races.”
What photo would you like to bring home from Paris?
«One of me leaving the stadium very happy».
Source: Vanity Fair
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