Italy: Rome plan for Italy champ Jacobs to relive Olympic race at Colosseum

Rome: An ambitious plan has been unveiled to recreate the 100m final from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – won by Italy’s Marcell Jacobs – in the shadow of the Colosseum in Rome.

The “global sporting event” was proposed jointly by Italian tourism minister Massimo Garavaglia and Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri during a meeting to discuss plans for the 2025 Jubilee in Rome.

The idea is to re-enact the Olympic race on Via dei Fori Imperiali – the street between the Roman Forum and the Colosseum – to mark Italy’s Festa della Repubblica, a national public holiday on 2 June, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reports.

In addition to Jacobs, the other seven other finalists from the Tokyo race would be invited to participate in the event whose organisation would also involve Italy’s ministries for culture and defence.

Similar major international sporting events have been staged in other large cities including Boston, Manchester, Zurich and Brussels, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“The images of Marcell Jacobs and the Olympic finalists competing along Via dei Fori Imperiali would be an extraordinary way to promote Rome around the world. A modern reinterpretation of one of our most iconic places”, said the the city’s councillor for tourism, sport and major events, Alessandro Onorato.

Italy celebrates golden era of sport

However, in addition to the budget required, there are significant hurdles to overcome in order for the race to take place, chief of which is the availability of athletes whose calendars are busy at that time of year, as La Gazzetta dello Sport points out.

The proposed event would fall in the middle of the Diamond League, an annual series of 14 track and field meetings for top athletes, part of which – the Golden Gala – will be held in Rome on 9 June.