Italian Fencers Say Soccer Players Got Special Treament On Plane Ride Back Home… We Say ‘Duh’

The women pictured to the right are members of the Italian Olympic fencing team, and they’re showing off their new shiny medals. They picked up five for their country before heading back to Italy when their competition was over. At the same time, their national soccer compatriots, who lost to Belgium in the quarterfinals, were also on their way home–early–except in a little more style. That’s because the underachieving socceristas were sipping champagne and eating lobster in first class while the gold and bronze winning fencers were dealing with broken seats and soda in cups (no full cans) in coach and these women were not happy. And if it’s anything we’ve learned from life and movies, it’s never to anger a group of Italian women with a mastery of sharp objects. But it seems that Raffaele Pagnozzi, the head of the Italian Olympic delegation, is used to these kind of incidents, and probably has the wounds to prove it.

“The Italian Olympic Committee bought economy class plane tickets for all the athletes, without any disparity between the various sports,” [Pagnozzi] told reporters on Monday. “If then some individual national federation, like the soccer federation, has chosen to increase the budget for a change in class it is a decision which has nothing to do with us.”

While we agree with Pagnozzi’s assessment, this is a new world we live in. At this point if any group of Olympians leaves Beijing without causing an international incident, let alone win medals, we say the fed should kick in a couple of extra dollars to let them fly first class.
Fencers upset as footballers fly first class [Yahoo]
Image [Yahoo]