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IMPRESSIONS
OF THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ITALY
by Simon Cox (English) 5th Kup
Getting
to Rimini
This was slightly more difficult than anticipated.
I had booked a flight for three friends and myself with the Irish airline Ryanair, who specialise in low-cost no
thrills flights. We were due to fly from London Stansted direct to Rimini, but I received an e-mail from them a
week beforehand to say that due to a dispute with the airport they were no longer flying to Rimini, and instead
we would be flown to Ancona, 50 miles to the south. This was not unexpected, however, as our plans rarely go without
a hitch - just the day before we were due to depart, one of my friends called to say that he had suspected gastroenteritis
and the doctor had advised him not to travel.
The flight itself was quite pleasant, taking just under two hours, although there was no in-flight entertainment
and food was not included in the ticket price. This is quite standard for budget flights to relatively short journeys
- it was the same for my recent trips to Salamanca, Spain, and Como, on the Italian/Swiss border.
Arrival (Thursday 5 July)
The first thing that hit us as we exited
the plane was the heat: we landed at about 8pm, and the day was still what we in England would call quite hot,
about 25ºC. The three of us collected our luggage and made our way into the airport lounge to wait for our
friend who has been living in Italy for six months teaching English, and consequently was the only one who knew
any Italian beyond 'spaghetti'. He duly arrived late, just to worry us, and we got a taxi to the train station,
having to pull the driver from his glass of wine to do so.
 The train from Ancona to Rimini
was quite dirty, and there weren't enough seats so we were forced to stand in the corridor for the duration of
the half-hour trip. From Rimini station, another taxi (this time with non-alcoholic driver) took us to our pensione,
which we discovered was in Viserbella, about ten minutes up the coast from Rimini itself.
We had two rooms with two beds in each, and hot and cold running mosquitos. The most interesting feature was the
shower - it was fixed straight onto the bathroom wall with no doors or curtain, and just sprayed water into the
middle of the room, which had a drainage hole in the middle of the floor.
Overall Impressions of the
Event
The tournament was held in the Rimini basketball
arena, which I thought was a very good venue. It held a couple of thousand spectators in tiered seats, although
few people seemed to stay seated for long at a time. The front few rows of each tier were reserved for the various
national teams, but these boundaries became blurred as the day went on. I was impressed by the fact that the tournament
was so well organised, as I imagine that such an event must have huge scope for delays and administrative errors.
There were five rings set up in a square, with the centre ring raised by about two feet, to be used for the finals.
Ring three was used at times for the Special Technique competition, and for the Power competition - this was interesting
due to the new pentagonal board holder, with the competitor inside a ring of five boards, which got rid of the
need to set up a single holder each time. I expect this went some way to speeding up the proceedings and helping
the event run more smoothly.
 The worst aspect of the day was
the heat. It became very oppressive in the arena as it was full of people and there was little ventilation. I felt
very sorry for those who had to compete under such conditions considering that even the spectators were wilting
somewhat.
The atmosphere in the arena, though, was unbelievable. I have been to many football matches, but they are nothing
like this was. I think it must be because of the enclosed space, the noise was not allowed to escape as it would
in a football stadium. The combination of fans shouting and banging the metal advertising hoardings meant that
at times the noise was almost deafening, and I don't doubt that it was intimidating or at the very least unsettling
for some of the competitors. By far the most noise was made by the Slovenians, who brought along drums and flags,
and cheered and chanted 'Slo-ven-ko! Slo-ven-ko!' every time one of their competitors was sparring. Their reaction
to Bianca Tapilatu winning the female -52kg sparring had to be heard to be believed. Other nations who were very
vocal in their support were Canada (who seemed to have more competitors and supporters than all the other countries
combined), Poland, Argentina and Korea. It should also be mentioned that the New Zealand supporters performed a
Maori haka, or war dance, as their middleweight male stepped up, and the Brazilians beat samba rhythms on their
drums! The overall impression I got was that although the countries were all very competitive, the rivalry was
friendly. I saw many competitors from different countries chatting and enjoying the day when they were not competing.
It is hard to pick the moment which was most memorable for me, as this is the first major international tournament
which I have attended, so it was all very new and impressive to me. If I had to choose, though, I think my favourite
part would be the displays of Traditional Sparring. These combined standard Taekwon-do techniques with jumps, spins,
holds and throws, and were all very gymnastic - I remember seeing one person perform a kick to the head from a
handstand, and another person run up the other's body before jumping up and again kicking to the head! They were
also performed with tongue in cheek, especially the Argentinian display. I think these Traditional Sparring displays
would be a perfect advertisement for the fitness, agility and diversity of techniques in Taekwon-do, and the humour
aspect would make them very accessible to non-practitioners. I hope to see much more of this in the future.
One thing that surprised me was the lack of advertising for the tournament. In all the time we spent in the area,
we saw just two posters for it, one near the Palasport itself, and one on the coast, in Viserba.
Summing up Rimini
I forgot to pack suntan lotion, and consequently
came home more red than brown. The best feature of Viserbella, in my opinion, is its miles of beaches. They are
all clean and well kept, although you do have to pay to use the loungers. The Italian ice creams should also get
an honourable mention as well, as they managed to sabotage my attempts at healthy eating. Easily.
My friends and I spent a day in an outdoor water park in Riccione, a short bus ride south of Rimini. Acquafan is
the largest of such parks in Italy, and contains swimming pools, slides, sunbathing areas, saunas and more. It
was quite expensive, but well worth it on a sunny day.
 We spent the Saturday evening
in the centre of Rimini itself, sampling various bars before getting a taxi to a club called il Paradiso, recommended
to us by the taxi driver who brought us to our hotel on the first day. That's right, the alcoholic one. We had
our first doubts as we pulled up to see a Ferrari parked outside,and then our second doubts when they told us that
we paid for everything on the way out, but then we got inside and were amazed. Completely open-air, it had a number
of dance areas and bars, and the trees and fittings were decorated with white sheets and sashes. I spotted some
competitors and spectators from the tournament, and managed to make friends with a couple of the Scottish spectators.
It closed at dawn (about 4am), and thankfully, we did get out.
The day before we were due to return, we visited San Marino. The tiny independent republic is about half an hour
from Rimini by coach, and is composed of a town built around three fortified towers, all perched on treacherous
rocky crags, with narrow winding streets and dirt paths connecting them. The view over the region from the top
of the towers is breathtaking, as indeed are the towers themselves.
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