FROM UVIL ZAJMI
Memorie.al / The Albanian-Australian lawyer, Eva Buzo, who has decided to swim the distance of 91 km. from Otranto to Vlora, is not the only one attempting this adventure. A full 38 years ago, another well-known figure in the sport of long swimming, Paolo Pinto, tried to do this. But how was the crossing of the strait designed for the first time? Who was Paolo Pinto, from the start, the bad weather, the return to the sea and the magnificent reception that was reserved for the Italian? Then the damage in the hotel room “Adriatik” and the departure without comment. How did the press and television media cover the event? Here are the details of what can be considered extraordinary for the time.
Albania-Italy sports relations have little history, few confrontations, even though they should have been much more intense. For many factors, from which we single out geographical proximity, economic and social exchanges, mutual recognition, sympathies, etc. On the one hand, the sports draws are not very favorable and, on the other hand, the political system in Albania, not benevolent in exchanges not only in sports, but also in other fields. Although before the war they were more numerous in some sports disciplines, then silence.
The last to close this relationship were the footballers Loro Boriçi, Slave Llambi, Riza Lushta, or Naim Kryeziu and Vasfi Biçaku, who played in Italy, and Xhacomino Pozeli, the goalkeeper of the Albanian National Team, champion of the Balkans in 1946. Until the 90s, no important exchanges, very few official and non-official contacts, from which we remember the matches with ‘Virtus’, ‘Oransoda’, ‘Ruinin’, ‘Klipan’, Futboll Club ‘Torino’, ‘Sinudinen’ ‘, ‘Banco Rama’, ‘Skuib’ or the challenges with the U-21 national teams. After the 90’s, others like ‘Teuta’ – ‘Parma’, or ‘Vllaznia’ – ‘Napoli’ in football came close.
Milan, Roberto Baggio and Xhani Rivera also came to Albania, but the special event was when “Italia 82” with Paolo Rossi, Savoldi, etc., played in “Qemal Stafa” with the Albanian National Team “Over 35”. But, during half a century, there have been attempts, or desires to realize something more than impossible.
They were few, sporadic, individual and not with a real institutional strategy or organization. Such remains that of the Italian swimmer Paolo Pinto, who tried, but could not, cross the Strait of Otranto, the Brindisi-Vlora distance by swimming. A special event for the time, which belongs to June 1985…!
No attempt before
Given the distance, which must be considered great and difficult, over the course of many decades, no one has been able or attempted to swim the 73 km that connect Brindiz to Vlora. Neither Albanian swimmers, nor foreigners either. Unfavorable sea conditions or currents were probably one side. But mainly the closure, the few activities of relations between the two countries, extremely limited by politics, did not allow anyone to take the initiative and then try such an enterprise.
But, after an individual idea and official attempts made by the Italian Swimming Federation, addressed to the Albanian federation, the Albanian Sports Committee and with the intervention of the Italian embassy, it was discussed and decided that the Italian swimmer Paolo Pinto would be allowed to cover the Brindisi-Vlora distance. The date was also set, which would be June 27, 1985…!
Competition regulations
Individual passes, assessed as such by the International Swimming Federation Regulations, are related to and are the same as open water races: No contact or support of the accompanying boat, no pulling from it, no support and assistance from sophisticated equipment auxiliary. Special in these races, but not written in the regulations, are the “last three steps”, when it touches the ground, after which the timer stops. Also, swimming will be considered valid if the swimmer does it alone and without the help of another swimmer who swims with him. The presence of an official from the mutual federations who does the timing is mandatory; otherwise the result is not recognized. Only when feeding does it stay in place, take the food, but without having the right to touch the accompanying ship or boat.
Who was Paolo Pinto?
Paolo Pinto, graduated in law, was from Pula and lived in Bari. Born in 1937, with a very athletic physique, 1.79 m tall, he first played basketball in his youth. Later he devoted himself to swimming, preferring semi-deep distances.
It was precisely this sports discipline that pushed him in the 70s to change the competition and dedicate him to long-distance swimming. Among the most famous ones, it is twice that of La Manche (33 km.-11 hours) in September 1979, that of Kastro Marina-Fanos, Greece, (91 km. in 41 hours) and Corsica-Elba (71 km . for 30 hours of swimming).
Paolo Pinto was the first to build and use the anti-shark cage, which at the time was a novelty especially for the applicants of this sport. In the closed Albania, information and knowledge about Pinto was little, even nothing accurate, since it was not known who he was, his career, etc. When it was said that an Italian would leave Bari, swimming to Vlora, few believed him.
For everyone, such an initiative was utopian and unfeasible for several reasons. But not for the Italian and his staff, who had been preparing for a long time, sure that he would make this transition, even though the atmospheric difficulties could be an obvious danger for him. And unfortunately that’s what happened!
First attempt, bad timing thwarts Pinto
Thursday, June 27, 1985, 9:00 a.m. At the point called Torre Del Serpente, there are many people, many specialists, journalists and curious people. The news that the swimmer from Puglia, 48-year-old Paolo Pinto, will swim across the Strait of Otranto, has prompted all the residents of the area to be there. After the ceremony, when the hands are marking 10:00, Pinto, accompanied by a group of doctors and swimmers, has started the adventure, the first and the first one who was trying to cover the Brindizi-Vlora distance. The press informs that the swimmer will not stop in Vlora, but at a closer point, called Cape Karaburuni.
Everything is normal, the sea is calm, but in the early hours after midnight, on June 28, when he has made more than half of the way (about 42 km), everything changes, the atmospheric conditions worsen a lot, the wind has its maximum force and the float it is impossible. Even for a long time, the rescue boat lost contact with Pinto, which they found again only after 20 minutes.
So the team decides to stop the race and after 20 hours in the water, at 5 am, Pinto is forced to finally stop swimming and “surrender” to the force of the sea. On the shore, they wait anxiously and the care in particular of the well-known masseur Ali Kastrati, who came from Tirana, is at its maximum. But it’s not over yet. After he arrived in Vlora, he stayed for several hours at the “Adriatik” hotel, motivated by the great desire to achieve his goal, he decided that same day to return to the sea and start the race again.
This time not where he left it, but from Cape Karaburun to Vlora, a long distance of twenty kilometers. On a sunny morning, good and calm weather, he jumps into the water, resumes swimming and after six hours he reaches the Vlonja coast, near the port (Moli Zero), where they await him with great interest, which for the Vlonja people was a unusual event. Even the curiosity to meet for the first time not only the swimmer, was more about the anti-shark cage, which was a surprising and interesting mechanism for those present.
Official reception in Vlora
The event that a foreign swimmer was allowed to swim in Albania, from Italy, was unusual for the time. It was even rare and was organized only two months after the death of Enver Hoxha, when the political situation was extremely tense. Never in the recent and distant past, had we had such an event, nor was it thought of.
However, in Vlora, they welcomed him with honor as a winner. It was the first time that an Italian swimmer, coming from the sea by swimming, set foot on Albanian soil. Party leaders, journalists, televangelists, but also senior officials of the Albanian state, participated in the arrival ceremony of Pinto and his accompanying group.
It’s Friday, noon. There are many people from Vlonia and with them the Italian ambassador, Francesco Carlo Xhentile, present at this sports festival, which for the time could be considered as an opening signal with the neighbors. Then organized visits. First, in a basketball match, where the girls of Flamurtari play.
Then, in one of the fruit farms of the city of Vlora. But the press also paid a lot of attention and in “Sportin Popullor” dated July 2, 1985, we find a long article by the well-known journalist, Besnik Dizdari, accompanied by photos of Petri Omer.
Also in VATSH, by the well-known journalist Vladimir Grillo, there is a minute about this event, which was able to closely follow it. With an army motorboat, he and the operator waited for him, filming his swim from Karaburuni Bay to Vlora. So, unlike other cases, perhaps even more important, there was more universal appreciation and engagement.
What happened to Pinto before leaving?
Something happened before his departure from Vlora. The event has remained unexplained, although it did not pass without being discussed in sports circles. Although there was no longer any plan or attempt to swim the distance (it was once thought that the return could be done by swimming from Vlora to Brindizi, but no, Pinto did not have this project on his agenda). For him, this adventure had already ended unrealized. After a few days of staying in Vlora, he planned to leave by plane. But, while he was resting in his room at the “Adriatik” hotel, he tried to close the curtain for a moment.
He got on the chair and fell off it, or the curtain frame fell on his shoulder. The fact is that his coach found him kneeling in the room. He was quickly given medical help at the hospital in Vlora. Then no comment, silence and Pinto has left accompanied to Rinas. From that time until today, the few witnesses who accompanied him closely and saw what happened, have an ambiguity. This fact has remained without comment, even by the foreign press, since Pinto did not want to comment any longer on what had happened to him taking the mystery with him.
Leaving racing and life
With a rich career in terms of important long-distance crossings, Paolo Pinto has remained one of the greatest protagonists in the history of Italian swimming. After the 90s, his activity also began to be more reduced. Few tries, few passes, no more tedious races. Then engagement in other extra-sports fields, such as those of charities in particular, would be more important for him. In recent years, he refused to face in competitions and with opponents, as he understood that everything was changing, evolving and he was no longer the same as before.
Pinto had made a correct choice precisely at a decisive moment of his sports career. In 2004, at the age of 67, he passed away, but he left behind the contribution of a man, like few others, in an important sport, both in terms of sports, but especially in the human one. Even for us Albanians, he was the character who became beloved and for the time symbolized the man, who had the courage to challenge the hermetic closure, making a dream come true, thanks to his strength, desire and passion.
From June 1985, a full 38 years have passed and until two days ago when the news broke about the Albanian-Australian Eva Buzo, no one has been able to take the initiative to test the distance, even though today there are much more modern tools that enable many difficulties such a passage.
That of Pinto would remain unique for both countries, in terms of sports relations between Albania and Italy, which at the time had great value. It was also like a hope, a small ray of light, for an opening from the West. But what the Italian Palo Pinto could not achieve until the end, we hope that our compatriot, Buzo, will achieve, to whom we wish success. Memorie.al
