Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – “To become a champion, to reach significant levels, the first person you must understand, know, and 'fight' is yourself. Because in each of us there's a bully, a conceited person. And if you want to achieve significant results in sport, you must begin by knowing your limits, your flaws, and even your ability to control your emotions.
So we need to give kids examples to follow. I talk to them and say, 'Be careful, because bullying doesn't help.' But I also want to ignite their passions, their hearts. And the marathon serves precisely this purpose." Thus, in an Adnkronos vodcast, Luca Massaccesi, former Italian and Olympic Taekwondo champion and president of the National Observatory on Bullying and Youth Discomfort, presents the 2026 Bullying Marathon, promoted by Accademia dei Campioni in collaboration with Adnkronos, scheduled for May 20-21, 2026, in Rome, at the Adnkronos Information Building.
An intense and well-attended day, dedicated to reflecting on the phenomena of bullying, cyberbullying, and youth distress, and on the concrete responses that the worlds of education, science, sport, and society can offer. "Do you know why I didn't win the Olympics? Because in the semifinals, 'my' bully came out and arrogantly approached the competition with the wrong strategy.
And that cost me an Olympic final,” he recalls.
Massaccesi explains how the commitment to fighting bullying and discrimination began. "When you win an Olympic medal, you start touring schools; the champion is the spokesperson. So we said to ourselves: why only talk about sports, about medals? We talk to the kids about our journey, because ultimately, a champion isn't someone who's won; he's someone who's lost many times and managed to get back up after falling, who's managed to respect the rules, and who's managed to set goals. So, ultimately, the secret to success lies precisely in the ability to know and recognize yourself, trying to optimize who you are," he emphasizes.
"When you get in front of kids, everything becomes beautiful, because they listen to you, applaud you, ask you a thousand questions. You become one of them because you talk about defeat, about fear. This is what excites me the most. So then I involved 20 Olympic champions from all sports and we found ourselves going around schools together," he continues.
And for the Marathon on May 20-21, the commitment will be maximum. "We'll have 20 gazebos in Piazza Mastai, and the army will bring sport climbing. They'll be coming from Germany with electronic games and headsets so the kids can try out some activities. We'll have Italian Post with a stamped stamp, and 12 Olympic champions will take turns on stage to address the kids. There will be 1.000 students every morning, it's wonderful, and lots of associations will be there, a celebration for the kids," he continues.
"We called it the square of respect, and it's no coincidence," he emphasizes, "because we'll be respecting each other there, not only the institutions involved, but also all the young people among themselves. But there's something fundamental: in the AdnKronos conference room, we'll be hosting nine panels, each with a specific and particular theme, and we want to bring together all the young people's stakeholders, by topic. We'll be talking about family, sports, school, but also health. There will be neuropsychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and pedagogists, but there will also be a panel on technology." Relations with the academic world are also close. "Five universities will be participating. We've signed a memorandum of understanding with Tor Vergata, and we'll be signing agreements with the University of Cagliari (University of Engineering), Federico II, and the universities of Bari and Foggia," he concludes.
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