by Marianna Grazi
There is something ineluctable and beautiful, nostalgic and at the same time inevitable as a sign of fate in these words:
“Was an incredible journey… beautiful and difficult … I am proud of myself, of how I grew up and of the woman I have become over the years !! I punched the world (even myself sometimes) for a long time, for many years, always fighting until the last centimeter of water available !!! I am happy really happy today !! It was the last 200 I wanted, in another Olympic final !! I have given my whole life to this sport and I took everything I wanted and more !! Thank you to all the people who have cheered and supported me over the years. Thanks to my family (my beating heart). Thanks to my staff who never gave up like me !! #inpeacewithmyself “
ANSA
To tell who he is Federica Pellegrini you could start with “once upon a time” because this story is like a fairy tale. There is everything: a journey, or rather an adventure, many draghi to defeat (one even drew it on his ankle, the first tattoo) a dream to chase. But instead of a prince or a hero, the protagonist is one little girl who at 16 begins his journey to Olympus. A journey through a thousand obstacles, adversaries, tears and defeats, but along a path studded above all by the successes and records that she herself has been able to build.
Federica has been and will be for a long time the greatest swimmer Italian of all time. That little girl from Verona, today, she became a woman. And it has entered the history of sport, of its sport, swimming. And on an Italian summer night, a Japanese morning, the Divina, as it has been called and considered for decades, swam her last 200 freestyle in the fifth consecutive Olympic final, the only woman to have ever succeeded. The swan song of an incredible career, or as we like to think, the last flight of thatPhoenix which bears engraved on the skin, which represents it. But ready to be reborn in another form.
A life of success
No one, in the case of Federica Pellegrini, will ever be able to say “if you didn’t know her…”. Of Faith, as all fans of this sport like to call it, everyone has heard of it at least once in their life. Emotional embodiment of sport at its highest expression,
athlete by dedication unique, tenacious, determined, ready for anything. Also to pass over those who, over the years, have repeatedly given it up for dead or over, unscathed from the accusations of detractors for its extra-sporting choices, deaf to attacks because immersed in that water of the pool which, for the Divine, is became pure oxygen. His style is truly free, built on himself, infallible and at the same time Elegant. Imitated, studied, unparalleled. A bit like her, insatiable predator inside the tank, fascinating and beautiful on the catwalk or on TV, his ‘other’ passions.
Two medals at the Games, from the silver of anger a Athens 2004, when just 16 years old reached that unexpected podium on the eve, to the gold of redemption and consecration in the tub of Beijing four years later. Eleven world championships, the only swimmer in get on the world championship podium eight times in the same distance, those 200 freestyle of which remains the queen and record holder, with the1’52″98 in the tub of the Foro Italico in the World Cup it is home. It’s still, twenty medals at the Europeans, including seven of the most precious metal, won in individual competitions and in relay races, twenty-three international podiums in the 25-meter pool, 180 Italian titles. These are mind-boggling numbers, which only partially tell the story of this athlete.
He has broke the barrier of time, setting 11 world records. At the Japanese Olympics, long awaited precisely because the latest, “lasta dance baby” as Pellegrini wrote on her Instagram profile, became the first woman in history to participate in five different finals of the same specialty. Like her, only the greatest of all, the American Michael Phelps. World champion of the 200 and 400 freestyle both in 2009 and in 2011, the only one at the time able to win the title consecutively in both distances in two different editions of the event. And that seventh place in Tokyo 2020 + 1, which in fact, has all the flavor of a victory. The umpteenth. The latest.
Physical problems and the death of Alberto Castagnetti
We know that in fairy tales, like Federica’s, there are often trials to face before the happy ending painful moments. So it was for her too. “There was a period of my life around 2005-2006 when I had some food problems – he revealed many years later – I wasn’t anorexic, I was throwing up. bulimia yes … in the sense that it is a very close thing … fortunately it did not last long because I immediately sought help, however, in short, I did it a few times, unfortunately yes “. A difficult relationship with your body, the transformation from teenager to woman, the distance from the family and, above all, the spotlight on that young and very strong champion. the ingredients were all there, to blow up the counter. But then, the arrival in Verona at the court of Alberto Castagnetti and that incredible feat that led it to be the greatest of all: gold in the 200 freestyle at the 2008 Games. But what seemed like the crowning of a dream and the beginning of ascent, soon becomes a nightmare.
Federica Pellegrini with Alberto Castagnetti, who passed away in October 2009, and Paolo Barelli, president of the Italian swimming federation
In fact, the panic attacks, which for a while made his life in the tank difficult. “I had the first one in November 2008 during an Italian meeting. This thing was also born for a physical problem: in fact I found out to be asthmatics and under exertion I breathe much less ”. An uneasiness that has grown inside her, like a drop of ink that slowly mixes with the water until it merges completely with it, inseparable. It was about “Small anxiety crises” linked, as she herself explained, “to the batteries of the 400 in Beijing, where I went so fast that I felt like I was dying. Since then, in the blocks for races over 200, the head wanders on its own, I can’t control it ”. After a long period of crisis, dealt with the help of the psychologist and the support of family and staff, Pellegrini has defeated that monster too, in the way she does best: in the tank, swimming. And here is gold, with world records – the first woman to go under 4 minutes – in those painful 400 style.
But the greatest pain was yet to come: in October the death of Castagnetti, the ‘second father’ coach who in 2006 after the long course forfeit at the European Championships took her literally “by the hair” to take her to train with him. “Thanks to him sportingly speaking I am reborn. Then over the years something else was born that unfortunately did not last long ”, she declared several times moved. “Era my mentor and I didn’t know who to trust. The certainties he gave me in training I tried to look for for many years ”. Years looking for guidance, relying first on Stefano Morini, then twice on Philippe Lucas, former coach of Laure Manaudou, his historical rival. Until the last ‘break’ and the choice of what, perhaps only after Castagnetti, managed to make it truly “the greatest of all”: Matteo Giunta.
Federica together with the coach and partner Matteo Giunta
“In my career I have changed many technicians – he said a few months ago in an interview – Matteo is a solid person, who for me it is fundamental. He didn’t change me, but he came at a somewhat turbulent moment in my life to calm the waters ”. And with Matteo, love was also born, after long relationships with teammates and colleagues from the national team Luca Marin and Filippo Magnini. A couple that most had hypothesized, but never revealed to the end. After the final in Tokyo, in fact, the confirmation arrived: “If Matteo had not been there, I would most likely have stopped a few years ago – she made her debut in front of the cameras, visibly excited – It was a great coach and a special life partner, and I hope it will be in the future too ”.
As if that were not enough, however, in the aquatic journey of the Pellegrini also the Covid. In October 2020 the positivity, just before leaving for theInternational Swimming League. The tears on social media, the pain, again. Virus outdated but that left its marks: “I have seen that it is not easy to fully recover from this disease. It leaves a lot of tiredness, even the doctors say that when you start swimming again you don’t have to push to the maximum right away ”. But she doesn’t fit in, she can’t abandon her team like that, him Aqua Centurions: “I was not good, because after a week (from the negativization, ed) I was at Isl in Budapest doing the races. It was normal that it was like this, I want to get involved regardless of everything “.
The last ride of the carousel
It does not end with the medal, it was not the best race disputed nor the best time I swam. But it is enough to watch her come out of the water, with tears in her eyes, she and us, glued to the TV, to understand that that journey, which began as a child in the 1995 at the Serenissima swimming pool of Verona, it ended in the best way. “It’s my last 200 internationally, right at 33 years old is the best time. I am proud to have been captain of this national team in recent months, I am aware of leaving a team never been so strong“. A young team, grown largely in her footsteps, some even too small to ‘be there’ during her first ventures, in 2004. But they saw a capitana, a model, an inspiration. And a motivator, who has always given everything for her teammates and for the Italian colors.
Each of us is called to write the pages of your life, of its own history. And Federica you wrote many, many, stroke after stroke, carrying on all the values of sport, as an athlete and as a woman. He was able to prove that in the tank there are no inequalities she fought and will fight for this (also for this reason she ran as a candidate representative of the athletes at the IOC), so that at least inside the water those differences that outside still prevail over theinclusion. For us at Luce! was the first supporter, with her letter (you can read it here) in which she encouraged anyone, regardless of diversity, to chasing your dreams: “It would be nice if the world of sport, my world, were at the forefront from this point of view”.
She gave everything to swimming: head, body and soul. Seventeen years enclosed in 200 meters of strokes in style, of exciting races, of sweat, tears and smiles. Like the last, the most beautiful of all.
“Usually I don’t walk in smiling and I don’t walk out of the tub smiling. It was all good today, too while I was swimming he could not be seen but I smiled“. And everyone, really everyone, smiled with Fede, who entered the eyes, hearts, stomachs of millions of fans, Italians and foreigners, with your exploits, now we can say, legendary. We’ll miss him, Federica Pellegrini, the Divine. But we will be ready to accompany her in her umpteenth rebirth, because we are sure that in future, those “many things to do”, will still give us great emotions.