The 19 year old Burdisso repeats with the mixed 4×100 the third place of the 200 butterfly. And in the conference he moves Coca Cola as Cr7
Glowing, tricolor flag on the shoulders, shirt with the national colors. Federico Burdisso is full of joy at the award ceremony of the 4×100 mixed relay, with the Italian team conquering an historic third place, also setting the new Italian record in 3’29 ”17. «It is wonderful to be on the podium again – he said to Rai2 at the end of the race – The relay races are always nice to do, especially for the group that we are. The first two were unattainable (United States, first with the new world record, 3’26 ”79 and Great Britain second, 3’27” 51, European record) but we finished third so very very well ». At the press conference, Federico, unleashed, moves the Coca Cola, imitating Cr7, “Come on, it hurts.” All his happiness, Chicco reiterates on the phone to mom Simona and dad Stefano, who with their other son Alessandro followed the race on TV at 4:30 in the morning, suffering and then rejoicing for the second Olympic bronze of their Chicco, after that of the 200 butterfly, another extraordinary result: the first Pavese to win a medal in swimming, the first Italian athlete to win it in the butterfly specialty .
Even the blue 4×100 did a great feat, until yesterday there were only two precedents of our relays on the most important podium, the 4×200 in Athens 2004 (bronze) and the 4×100 freestyle always in Tokyo (silver). The quartet consolidated by the experience at the European Championships in Budapest in April, which ended with the bronze, presented itself in the starting blocks loaded from the first half of the preliminaries: Thomas Ceccon back in 52 “52 is second, Nicolò Martinenghi maintains the position after the breaststroke fraction in 58 “11, Burdisso defends third place in a butterfly position in 51” 07 and Alessandro Miressi in the freestyle fraction with 47 “47 crowns the chase to the podium.
The return to Italy
And now? Federico is about to leave the heavily armored Olympic Village to return to Italy. He will be in Rome tomorrow, celebrating with friends and preparing for the challenges of the Italian championships, a further competitive commitment of a very long and stressful season. His family will join him in the capital and can’t wait to hug him. But there will be room, finally, for “a lot of relaxation”, as his coach Simone Palombi of Aurelia Nuoto said, the coach who made Federico make the leap in quality, after his debut at the Folperti pool in Pavia and in Lacchiarella. . Later, he is scheduled to return to the United States, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where Burdisso attends courses in economics with a statistical address, but on a sporting level, the eye inevitably turns to the Paris 2024 Games, to the new challenges. to face, even if, wisely, mother Simona explains that there will be time and way to think about it, while now is the time to enjoy the medals.
.