The Romans orbited around Lamont Marcell Jacobs, stretching their legs on the track. “Ciao Champion,” said one Speedwalker. “You make us dream of an old man,” said one of the old men. Jacobs bowed to the trap music from the portable speakers and cursed him to the start line. Then he took a calm breath, crouched and exploded, and ran faster than anyone on the track. I ran faster than anyone in Italy and most people on the planet.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Jacobs, an Italian who was not well known at the beginning of the Games, surprised the sports world by winning a gold medal in the men’s 100-meter dash. In a country where some populist politicians have expressed their support by demonstrating black immigrants, how Italian athletes and Italians win the victory by the sons of a black American father and a white Italian mother. Expanded the general imagination of what you can see.