COSTA Carolina

Classification
B3 (ibsasport.org, 23 Apr 2021)

Type of Impairment
Vision impairment (messina.gazzettadelsud.it 14 Nov 2018)

Impairment Details
In 2016 she was diagnosed with the eye condition keratoconus, which is a degenerative condition of the cornea. (messina.gazzettadelsud.it 14 Nov 2018)

General
FROM JUDO TO PARA JUDO
In January 2018 she switched from being a fully-sighted competitor to a visually impaired judoka after she lost 80% of the sight in her left eye the night before she was due to compete at the national championships in Italy. "In 2016, during a check-up, an ophthalmologist from Messina diagnosed me with keratoconus and advised me to do further checks in Rome, where the diagnosis was confirmed. Despite this, I continued to compete but the night before the national championships I was at the dinner table with my mother and my coach Vittorio Scimone and I could no longer see properly. I had lost 80% of the vision in my left eye. Despite everything, I still competed the next day, but there was irreversible damage to the retina and I eventually withdrew from the competition." (messina.gazzettadelsud.it, 14 Nov 2018)

FATHERLY INSPIRATION
She says that her sporting career has been inspired by her father Franco Costa, who was a judo master and died when she was 11. "I entered daddy's gym barely able to take my first steps. I remember that I was mesmerised by the sound of thuds on the mats and the screams from the children during their lessons. Even then, that was my life or following my mother who was involved in competitions abroad. The phrase my father used to repeat to me still rings in my head, 'Never give up', and I didn't give up. I lost him when I was only 11 and I was between my pre-competitive and competitive stage, but we were two bodies and one soul." In 2018 she formed a judo club named after her father in Messina, Italy. "We closed the gym my family had after his death. We couldn't carry it on on our own, mum and me. But now that I am old enough to take on the responsibility, I have opened mine and the students come because no one has forgotten my father's name in Messina." (comitatoparalimpico.it, 04 Jun 2019)