Articles and reflections

The story of Bobbi Gibb: overcoming limits and rewriting history When it comes to overcoming our own limits and breaking the mould, few stories are as inspiring as Bobbi Gibb’s. At a time when women were kept on the margins of competitive sport, Bobbi Gibb did far more than break down barriers: she ran towards history and opened the way for generations of women athletes. In the 1960s, the world of marathon running was an exclusively male domain. It was commonly believed that women were not physically capable of running long distances. Bobbi Gibb, a young woman from Cambridge, Massachusetts, had a dream that defied these conventions. Ever since she was a child Bobbi had loved running, but her passion went beyond the simple pleasure of moving: she wanted to take part in the Boston Marathon, one of the most prestigious races in the world. In 1966, Bobbi decided to turn her dream into reality. She sent in her application to run the Boston Marathon, but the answer she received was a fla...

Friday night, a pizzeria. A friend tells everyone he met a famous footballer at the airport. He says they talked for ages, adds one detail, then another. Someone asks a question. You stay silent: that very day he had texted you that he was at home with a fever. You might have misunderstood. A date can slip, a memory can get muddled. But it isn’t the first time something hasn’t added up. There was that trip whose details kept changing. That job he got, then never started. That important acquaintance nobody ever met. At first you let it go. Then you start listening in a different way. While he talks, you compare, you remember, you look for confirmation. And perhaps this is what upsets you most: you went out to spend time with a friend and find yourself checking a story. What is a lie looking for? Faced with someone who lies often, the words come quickly: serial liar, narcissist, manipulator. They give a name to our discomfort and, for a moment, we feel we have understood. But namin...