Great Nnachi comes from a Nigerian family. What’s remarkable about her is that she set a new pole vault record on April 27, in Turin, the northern Italian city where she was born. She jumped over 3.70 meters, beating the Italian outdoor record set in 2012. But here lies the problem: Nnachi, 14, can’t apply for Italian citizenship until a year before she turns 18. And because of this, the record hasn’t been officially registered yet.
A few days after the event, the Italian Athletics Federation (FIDAL) stated: “The question of whether or not this is an Italian record is controversial, so much so that on May 24, at our next federal council, we shall discuss the interpretation of the rule of jus soli in Italian sport: Is a record set by an athlete of [so-called] ‘equal’ standing a true record or not?”
If Nnachi had been Italian none of this would’ve mattered. Her new record in the cadetti, the youth category, would only have made headlines in local papers. But as it happened, the young athlete’s performance was reported in all national media outlets, TV included. How come?
