Interview with the champion in Torun, Poland: «Before, I repressed my emotions, conditioned by family and culture»
The fastest woman in the world is Italian, her name is Zaynab Dossohas a boyfriend, two cats and many dreams under her curls. In Torun she won the 60 meters in 7″ clear, but has already dropped below the barrier (6″99). Among the five medals of the World Indoor Championship, Za is the cover face of an Italy without limits.
Do you understand what you’re doing, champion?
«Thinking back to the path to get here I realized how far I have come. Hearing the anthem moved me so much: I sang it with my eyes closed otherwise the tap would turn on…”.
Is the click in your head while witnessing the five Olympic gold medals in Tokyo explainable?
«It was a revelatory moment: if Jacobs made it, why not me? It’s the thought that, I think, we all had a bit in the team. Oh guys, let’s wake up, we started telling ourselves: that gold was proof that sacrifices and work pay off. From then on I got more involved. A domino effect started. First the goal was to do the minimum for the World Cup, then it became to win the World Cup.”
A mental revolution.
«In any case, there was no shortage of ups and downs. I had to figure out what to do to unleash my potential. I knew I wanted to prove my worth, but how? I moved from Rubiera to Rome to Giorgio Frinolli, who is the best coach in the world: my gold is also dedicated to him. The indoor and European world championship bronzes in Rome made me understand that I was on the right path, then at the Paris Games things went badly, I went into crisis: taking a trip to the Ivory Coast, where I was born, allowed me to find myself as a person. I worried too much, I started doing pilates also to stop my thoughts. And the gold medals from Apeldoorn and Torun have arrived.”
Besides pilates, what did it help you with?
«Read, read a lot. Osho’s books, for example: in particular the texts on religion and living. I realized that I was repressing my emotions, due to family and cultural conditioning. Today, however, I want to be free.”
Many women’s gold medals between Milan, Cortina and Torun. Is the sense of freedom of Italian athletes spreading?
«Women have always been strong, but before they were pushed into a corner by strong male energies. That they are emerging now is no coincidence. Now our greatness is noticed: we allow ourselves to express ourselves, to take what we want. It’s a scream: we’re here too!
His running action has changed, it is more effective.
«This winter I made myself a pot like this with a lot of aerobic work: today I manage to do twenty times one hundred while maintaining the high level. I’m happy to have managed to transfer the changes to the three rounds in Torun. Frinolli studies data and videos, I try to analyze as little as possible: my job is to race. In Torun at the start my foot slipped from a block, I had to change it. It was a demonstration to myself: I can overcome even the unexpected.”
Does the act of running give you different sensations today?
“Yes. Already after two or three months I had the perception of being more in control of my gesture. Before I was more at the mercy of a race of strength, to prove I don’t know what. Now every movement is conscious, even a small movement of the arm.”
Dosso and Battocletti, two world gold medals: what is the relationship?
«Nadia is a great captain. She won her race and the next day she returned to the arena to support Sveva Gerevini in the heptathlon. We push each other, not just me and Nadia: in the blue group it’s all about observing each other without envy to try to motivate each other. But inspiration also comes from outside: from Sinner who does incredible things in Brignone and Goggia.”
She is an inspiration to Kelly Doualla.
«Kelly is fresh air, with her you can do great things even in a relay way. In Torun she entered the jungle: I thought she needed a friend.”
Does a world gold in the 60 meters change your life?
«I hope so but it’s not popularity I’m looking for, my aim is to do my sport as best as I can. If it comes, so be it. I return from Poland as a world champion and I get back to living my life: the move with my Portuguese hammer-playing boyfriend, the cats to look after. My greater serenity also coincides with his arrival in my life. He calls me a butterfly, but he does it to increase my stress!
How will he react to the expanded outdoor world of the Diamond League and Los Angeles 2028?
«Already testing myself on the 200, as well as on the 100, shows that my ambitions have grown. How will I react? I’m curious to find out too.”
