San Marino’s Eugenio Rossi is expected to be the only participant to represent San Marino during the upcoming European Athletics Championships held from 6-10 July in Amsterdam.
The 22-year old high jumper hopes to see the San Marino flag waiving across the podium in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium on the final evening of the championships when the high jump contest takes place.
#tecnica #221 #adidas #Highjumper #Gaithersburg @adidasITA @ciottigiulio pic.twitter.com/VMvMlwoLyR
— Eugenio Rossi (@hugehighjump) April 29, 2016
Rossi tells us a bit about himself and his ambitions for Amsterdam:
“I spent the first fourteen years of my life in San Marino, before moving to Cesena (Italy) to study. Since then, I've come back to San Marino and live with my dog Alan and despite the fact that I spend almost all my time practising athletics, I also like to go fishing or gardening. My mom has a nice yard where I grow various plants throughout the year.
“I take great pride in being a professional athlete from San Marino and I feel responsible for representing the nation at major events such as the Europeans. At the same time I sometimes feel lonely not having teammates to share the experience with. Luckily I have a good coach and my performances keep me satisfied.”
In 2015, Rossi set a new personal best with 2.27m which would have brought him fifth place two years ago in Zurich, only three centimetres away from bronze.
“If I can keep improving, why not dream of a medal? No matter what happens, I’m sure that I will get to the final,” he says.
“For the rest I just hope that there will be a great atmosphere in the stadium and that the conditions are good for high jumping. I think my friend Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) has a good chance to take home gold, but our sport will always be the true winner.”