Who is Martina?

In 2007 a serious accident leads to the disarticulation of her left knee, but she refuses to give up: with her prostheses she gets back the normal life she had lost and sets out to conquer the world. And she does!

In 2010 Martina starts winning Italian and then international medals, and her first big success comes as early as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where she takes gold in the blue riband event, the 100 metres, in the T42 class.

Four years later, at Rio 2016, she brings home another gold in the same event and a silver in the long jump. Still not satisfied, she keeps winning at world and European championships, breaking record after record.

At Tokyo 2020 she wins two silvers, in the long jump and in the 100 metres, in the T63 class. In the 100 metres two compatriots share the podium with her, Ambra Sabatini first and Monica Contrafatto third: an all-Italian sweep that made Paralympic history.

At Paris 2024, her fourth Games, she wins silver in the long jump and, in the last race of her career, her third Paralympic gold in the 100 metres.

She is a sporting legend, and also a Paralympic ambassador, an advocate for inclusion and an inspiring voice.

Martina carried Italy's flag at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and has lent her face to several causes, among them Sportfund's projects for inclusion through sport and Fondazione Fontana, with which she went to Kenya as a volunteer. She has climbed the Vajolet Towers, worked with the European Space Agency and told her story, and how she sees things, on the stage of four TEDx events.

When she is not busy motivating others, you will find her working on inclusion projects or commentating on TV, with her usual touch of humour and lightness.

After some seven years representing athletes in the Italian Paralympic Committee, in 2021 she was elected to the Athletes' Council of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and at Paris 2024 she was re-elected for four more years. For Milano Cortina 2026 she was an ambassador of the Games and worked in the Foundation's Legacy team.

She also sits on the Athletes' Council of World Para Athletics, the international federation of Para athletics, and more and more she sees her future in sports governance.