The Marcucci: the same blood, the same passion and the unique chance to share their first Olympic Games with Los Leones and Las Leonas

Be part of some for the first time Olympic Games It is always a very special moment for an athlete. Entering a Villa for the first time, being dazzled by the magnitude of each stage and getting excited and suffering each competition with the shirt on. Although all these sensations are surely enhanced if they are shared from within with someone very close. This is what the brothers are experiencing in Paris 2024 Thaddeus y Valentina Marcucciplayers from the field hockey teams, who have already reached the quarterfinals and are still in the race in the fight for the medals.

“We never dreamed of this. It is something unique to be in the Olympic Games. It is the dream of every athlete because this is the maximum competition that every sport has. I am happy. And this has a special, unique flavor, which is being able to share it with her. Beyond the maelstrom of the tournament, being here, both on the same page, is unthinkable,” Tadeo tells Clarion during a talk in the International Zone of the Olympic Village.

The Marcuccis are one of the three pairs of brother athletes in the light blue and white delegation in the French capital. -quite less than the six pairs and trios that there were in Tokyo 2020-, along with Federico and Ignacio Pizarro y Diego and Pablo Simonetall members of the handball Gladiators.

“When the date on which the lists were going to be given approached, the excitement was there. As if to say, look if we both go inside the Villa. Maybe we didn’t think about it or talk about it as much, because we knew it was complicated. The lists are very short. But when it happened, it was a huge happiness, especially for my family,” says Tadeo, 23 years old.

And he adds: “First they gave the list to the men, on a Friday, after returning from the Pro League in Belgium. And they gave it to them a week later, so it was a week with a bit of intrigue, because I knew that came, and we were saying, please let Valen come too. When we found out it was crazy.”

Valentina, who is 26, admits: “I never really imagined it. I always knew that Tadeo at some point was going to have the opportunity to come to the Olympic Games, but being able to do it together was not something I thought could happen. It’s a dream, honestly.”

Valentina and Tadeo were trained in Lomas. She began to play with Tomás, her older brother. At first he wasn’t very interested in hockey (any sport, really), but she eventually got hooked. And each one made their way at their own pace in the selected ones, because those three years of difference meant that they never coincided in a category. Until they reached the senior teams.

Today, the two already have a lot of experience – and several podiums conquered – with the light blue and white jersey. Valentina was world runner-up in the tournament that was held in Spain and the Netherlands in 2022 and he won a silver medal in the Odesur of Asunción that same year.

Tadeo was part of the national team that won bronze at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games -“It was a unique experience, which forged and prepared me like this moment I am living,” he remembers- and he was also junior world champion in India 2021 and gold in the South American event in the Paraguayan capital two years ago and in the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023.

In Paris, it isHe is part of the official group of 18 Lions and started all five group stage matches.. She came to the Games as a reserve player, in case one of her colleagues is injured, although she is staying in the Villa with the entire delegation, unlike what happened, for example, in Tokyo. So, although each one is experiencing the Olympic event from a different place, they are very close and both share the same spaces.

With the hustle and bustle of training and competitions, they still did not have days with enough leisure time to sit together and calmly savor this unique experience.

“We didn’t have the opportunity to get together since everyone has their own schedules, but I’m sure there will be time. Normally we chat after the games to see how everyone was doing and if we bump into each other around town, We also stayed chatting for a while, but nothing more,” says Valentina.

“We haven’t had a full day off yet, so it’s a bit complicated. But today we were already talking about having some mates, so we’ll go here at any time to do it,” Tadeo recalls. “We are quite simple, I think that with some dunks in the rings or here looking at the canal we will be happy. We always do it when we are at home. We are family members, getting together to have dunks and talk about everything, not necessarily about hockey.”

Perhaps it will be a little difficult for them to find the time to do it, because the playoffs for both tournaments are coming up and the two teams will play on alternate days, if they overcome instances.

The Lions, who finished fourth in group B, will clash with Germany, first in group A, this Sunday at 8 p.m. (15 from Argentina). They will seek to take the first step towards the goal of returning to the podium after eight years, after the gold they won in Rio de Janeiro 2016.

“In the group, we won the games we had to win and we grew as a team. We are well prepared for that game. The key is going to be to stay calm, be very well headed and take advantage of the opportunities that appear,” anticipates Tadeo.

The lionesswho were second in zone B, will go on Monday at 12:30 (7:30) also against the German team, third in zone A. They will try to keep alive the illusion of the gold, the only Olympic medal color that is missing in the showcases of Argentine women’s hockey, in which there are already three silvers (Sydney 2000, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020) and two bronzes (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008).

“I didn’t have to play, but I think that from the outside you suffer more than from the inside sometimes. In the group stage I saw the girls doing very well, solid, confident and forceful. That is the most important thing to face what is coming “, reflects Valentina.

The Marcucci, the same blood, the same passion and the unique chance to share their first Olympic Games.