Federica Pellegrini

Federica Pellegrini
Personal information
Nationality  Italy
Born 5 August 1988
Mirano, Italy
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 65 kg (143 lb; 10.2 st)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
Club C.C. Aniene
Coach Philippe Lucas

Federica Pellegrini (Italian pronunciation: [fedeˈriːka pelleˈɡriːni]; born 5 August 1988)[1] is an Italian swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the province of Venice, she holds the women's 200 m freestyle world records (long course and short course), and won a Gold Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini became the first woman ever to breach the 4 minute barrier in 400 m freestyle with the time 3:59.15. Pellegrini is the first female Olympic champion in the history of Italian swimming; she is also the only Italian swimmer to have set world records in more than one event.

Biography

Career

Pellegrini's first international podium was at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where she won the silver medal in the 200 m freestyle at the age of 16, becoming the youngest Italian athlete ever to win an Olympic medal in an individual event.

Pellegrini's first long course gold medal came at the 2008 European Championships in Eindhoven, where she won the 400 m freestyle setting a world record (4:01.53).

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, she arrived as the world-record holder and favourite for the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle, but only finished 5th in the final. On the same day, she recovered from that disappointment by setting a world record in the heats of the 200 m freestyle; in the final, she broke her own world record (1:54.82) and won her first Olympic gold medal.

Pellegrini also proved her strength in short course events at the 2008 European Short Course Championships in Rijeka when she won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle at a world-record pace (1:51.85). At the 2009 Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Pellegrini broke the world record in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 4:00.41 to better Joanne Jackson's record of 4:00.66.[2]

At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Pellegrini broke the world record again in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 3:59.15, winning the gold medal and in doing so becoming the first female swimmer to break the 4 minute barrier in the event; she won the gold medal also in the 200 m freestyle and she broke her own world record with a time of 1:52.98. At 2009 European Short Course Championships in Istanbul she broke the world record in the 200 m freestyle with a time of 1:51.17. At 2010 European Championships in Budapest Pellegrini won the bronze medal in the 800 m freestyle, behind Lotte Friis and Ophélie-Cyrielle Etienne, and the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle with a time of 1:55.45; in the same year, she announced that she would be working with Laure Manadou's former coach, Philippe Lucas. At the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, Federica won the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle with a time of 4:01.97, becoming the second female swimmer after Laure Manaudou to win the gold medal in this event at two consecutive World Aquatics Championships; after two days, she won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle too with a time of 1:55:58, becoming the first female swimmer ever to won this title at two consecutive editions of World Aquatics Championships; after the success in Shanghai, she parted ways with her French coach and began working with Federico Bonifacenti.

May 2012 saw her surprisingly excluded from the final of the 400 metre freestyle at the 2012 European Aquatics Championships, after winning two gold medals in other events (200 metre freestyle and 4×200 m freestyle relay) and a bronze medal in 4×100 freestyle relay). [3]

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Pellegrini failed to medal in any of her individual events, finishing fifth in the 400 metres freestyle (4:04.50) and the 200 metres freestyle (1:56.73).

After the Olympics, Pellegrini declared she wouldn't take part to 200 and 400 metres freestyle at 2013 World Aquatics Championships to take a gap year. She chose to prepare herself for 200 metres backstroke competition to compete for Italy at World Championships. Anyway, with a last minute decision, Pellegrini took part to 200 metres freestyle event at 2013 World Championships and eventually won a silver medal with a time of 1:55.14, her best since Rome. Pellegrini won the silver medal behind Missy Franklin.

Private life

Since August, 2011, she has been in a relationship with fellow swimmer, Filippo Magnini,[4] having previously been engaged to another teammate, Luca Marin.[5]

Personal bests

She currently holds 1 world records (WR), 3 European records (ER) and 10 National records (NR). Her personal bests (as of the 30 July 2009) are:

Event Long course (year) Short course (year)
50 m freestyle 25.47 (2004) 25.02 (2004)
100 m freestyle 53.55 (2009) 52.86 (2013)
200 m freestyle 1:52.98 (2009) World record 1:51.17 (2009) World record
400 m freestyle 3:59.15 (2009) 3:57.59 (2011)
800 m freestyle 8:24.99 (2010) 8:15.20 (2010)
100 m backstroke 1.00.69 (2013) 58.80 (2013)
200 m backstroke 2:08.05 (2013) 2:03.75 (2013)
200 m butterfly 2:08.69 (2013)
4×50 m freestyle relay 1:37.56 (2013)
4×100 m freestyle relay 3:39.18 3:39.18 (2006)
4×200 m freestyle relay 7:46.57 (2009) 7:50.39 (2006)
4×50 m medley relay 1:47:05 (2008)
4×100 m medley relay 4:04.90 (2008)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Olympics". sports-reference. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/21514.asp#RT
  3. ↑ "Nuoto: Pellegrini shock, "forse sono malata"; oro 4x100 misti" (in Italian). agi.it. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  4. ↑ "Filippo Magnini and Federica Pellegrini pose naked in Vanity Fair". swimmersdaily.com. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  5. ↑ "Luca Marin on how Federica Pellegrini split up with him". swimmersdaily.com. Retrieved 22 May 2012.

External links

Records
Preceded by
Franziska van Almsick		 Women's 200 metre freestyle
world record holder (long course)
27 March 2007 – 28 March 2007 		Succeeded by
Laure Manaudou
Preceded by
Laure Manaudou		 Women's 200 metre freestyle
world record holder (long course)
11 August 2008 – present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Coralie Balmy		 Women's 200 metre freestyle
world record holder (short course)
14 December 2008 – 7 December 2014 		Succeeded by
Sarah Sjöström
Preceded by
Joanne Jackson		 Women's 400 metre freestyle
world record holder (long course)
27 June 2009 – August 2014 		Succeeded by
Katie Ledecky
Awards
Preceded by
Stephanie Rice		 World Swimmer of the Year
2009 		Succeeded by
Rebecca Soni
Preceded by
Rebecca Adlington		 European Swimmer of the Year
2009–2011 		Succeeded by
Ranomi Kromowidjojo