How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart?
In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.
The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.
Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.
The Stats
Country
Italy
Crew Names
Stefano Oppo (B)
Gabriel Soares (S)
Average Age
29 years
Olympic Record
Third in the LM2x at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games (Oppo)
Fourth in the LM4- at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games (Oppo)
2024 Competitive Record
World Rowing Cup 1: 1st (LM2x)
World Rowing Cup 2: 1st (LM2x)
World Rowing Cup 3: N/A
European Championships: 2nd (LM2x)
The Profile
Italy have a strong history in this event although they have yet to win the Olympic title and last won world gold in 2003. Stefano Oppo and Gabriel Soares won bronze at the 2023 world championships. Oppo, along with long-time partner Pietro Ruta, won world championship silver in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 and they also won Olympic bronze in Tokyo. Paris will be Oppo’s third Olympics, having raced the light coxless four to a fourth place in Rio. Soares raced in the lightweight single in 2022, winning the world title and in 2019 was in the lightweight quad that won world championship silver. This season, as mentioned above, they’ve been having a great fight with the Swiss, coming out on top at the first and second World Rowing Cups, but losing out at the Europeans.
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