Federica Pellegrini is an outstanding Italian swimmer, who for many years held the lead in world swimming at distances of 200 and 400 meters. The records set by her back in 2009 have not yet been broken and are considered an unattainable benchmark for young and hungry athletes.
Venetian pearl
Federica Pellegrini, whose photo does not leave the covers of Italian newspapers, is considered one of the most beautiful girls in world sports. A worthy setting for such a diamond was Venice, or rather the town of Mirano in the province of the same name, where in 1988 the future world swimming star was born. This sport is not considered the most popular in the country where they go crazy for football, love volleyball and basketball.
However, Federica did not know another passion and spent all her free time in the pool, learning to swim almost before walking. Here she felt in her element, not feeling the terrible severity of gravity. Selflessly training, Federica Pellegrini effortlessly became the first number of the national team of her country as a teenager, defending the honor of the Italian flag at international starts in between examinations at school.
Best of all, the Venetian mermaid was given the distances of 200 and 400 m freestyle, where she concentrated her efforts. Excellent speed endurance allowed her to show the best results in these disciplines, ignoring participation in the sprint.
Athenian exploits
The first major tournament for Federica Pellegrini was the Athens Olympics. The girl then barely reached sixteen years of age and was known only to a narrow circle of specialists. Among the favorites were the strongest swimmers from Australia, the USA, while Italian girls never entered the cohort of world swimming leaders.
However, the young schoolgirl made all the fans in the open Olympic pool of Athens long and delighted to chant her name in the final of the competitions. The fragile girl, which could be confused with the daughter of individual participants, confidently and impudently swam her decisive 200 meters and took second place. Thus, she blocked several national achievements at once. Federica became the first Italian swimmer to be awarded an Olympic medal, as well as the youngest athlete in the history of the country to be awarded a place on the Olympic podium.
Queen of the pool
The entire next four-year cycle of Federica Pellegrini is stubbornly preparing for his victory at the Olympics. Silver follows at the World Championships in Montreal, bronze in Melbourne in 2007. The young athlete is undergoing a painful and difficult transition from a teenage state to an adult, and therefore there is still no stability in the results.
However, Federica Pellegrini approached the decisive starts of the fourth anniversary at the peak of her form. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Italian by a wide margin won the final of the discipline with a 200 m freestyle, setting a world record.
The next few years passed with the clear dominance of Federica in the world of women's middle-distance swimming. She became a four-time world champion, invariably winning at distances of 200 and 400 m until 2011. In 2009, she updated her world record at a distance of 200 m, not yet beaten.
She was considered the favorite at the Games in London in 2012, but deeply personal reasons interfered in the matter, in connection with which Federica Pellegrini for some time left the stage of world swimming.
Queen's Return
By the 2017 World Cup, many have already written off the famous Italian swimmer. She was still consistently among the winners of the world championships, but has not won since 2011. Nevertheless, Federica Pellegrini managed to take her next World Cup in a tough competition with Katie Ledeki and Emma Makeon, confirming her champion character and star status.