Elisa Confortola

Club / Team

GS Fiamme Oro: Italy

Hobbies	Spending time with friends, playing sport, watching TV, travelling. (eyof.org, 02 Apr 2020; ethicsport.it, 2023)
Hero / Idol	Italian wheelchair fencer Beatrice Vio. (eyof.org, 02 Apr 2020)
Ambitions	To win a medal at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan-Cortina. (ethicsport.it, 2023)
Awards and honours	She was flag bearer for Italy at the closing ceremony of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland. She had originally been selected as flag bearer for the opening ceremony, but was unable to take on the role as she was not scheduled to compete during the first week of the Games. (imgpress.it, 26 Dec 2019) In 2019 she was recipient of the Giulio Onesti Award from the Italian Olympic Academy. (fondazionegiulioonesti.it, 2022) She was flag bearer for Italy at the opening ceremony of the 2019 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (eurolympic.org, 09 Jan 2020; sportsondrio.it, 08 Jan 2020)

Name of coach	Maggie Qi [national], CHN
When and where did you begin this sport?	She took up short track at age six.

Sporting philosophy / motto	"For me, falling is not a failure but a motivation to do better." (World Junior Short Track Championships Facebook page, 29 Jan 2020)
Other information	OLYMPIC BID SPEECH She was chosen to give the last speech on behalf of the bid committee for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan-Cortina at the final presentations in Lausanne, Switzerland, in June 2019. "I said yes, but immediately thought, 'Oh my god, that's it'. The days leading up to the speech were full of anxiety, I did not know how to make the speech, who to look at. I focused on a personal speech, and I hope it had an impact. I took part in something unique and took the first steps towards a dream. In 2026 I will be 24 years old, and the Olympics at home is one more motivation to continue training and doing well." (eurolympic.org, 09 Jan 2020; corriere.it, 24 Jun 2019; raiplayradio.it, 01 Jun 2019)

www.facebook.com/elisa.confortola.02
twitter.com/eliconfortola

Memorable sporting achievement

Winning bronze in the 3000m relay at the 2022/23 World Cup event in Montreal, QC, Canada. (ethicsport.it, 2023; SportsDeskOnline, 01 Nov 2023)

Reason for choosing this sport

She decided to focus mainly on short track at age 13 after practising several sports. "I practised several sports when I was a young girl and this was the only one that excited me the most to the point of continuing practising it."

Most influential person in career	Her teammates. (ethicsport.it, 2023)
Nicknames	Eli (ethicsport.it, 2023)