"Stellar" afternoon at the Olympic village

Whilst the anticipation for the Games is growing, the Olympic athletes are "warming up" in the over 1500-square-metre gym equipped by Technogym, inside the Olympic Village.

Rafael Nadal, the new leader of the ATP world ranking, made his official appearance today. The Spanish tennis player did a training session which included mainly free weights, stretching and the innovative Kinesis cable machine. Nadal chatted with the Spanish men’s basketball team and joked and signed autographs with those present and the gym staff.

The day at the Olympic Village gym started with an intense training session by the Italian men’s volleyball team. The most active was the centre forward, Luigi Mastrangelo, who loaded the Multipower with 200 kg.



Amongst the various stars who showed up throughout the day there was the Russian volleyball team and the Argentine basketball team who won the gold medal in Athens 2004. The Argentines were captained by Emanuel "hand" Ginobili (ex-Virtus Bologna) and Luis Alberto Scola, who both play in the American NBA. Ginobili told Wellness TV that, considering all the other teams competing, it will be difficult to repeat the success of 2004. He would also drop Kobe Bryant from the US dream team to even out the competition.