Italy’s third place in the medal table at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, behind two superpowers such as the United States and China, surprised the entire world. Driving this European running in Rome underscores modern-day sensibilities: Italy is a world power when it comes to swimming.
In Budapest, Italy came out with 9 golds, 7 silvers and 6 bronzes, a total of 22 medals consecrated the team as the European Diamond Party in this special classification. Spain finished the tournament with weaker spoils, with “only” two metals, a gold (she won the water polo final against Italy) and a silver medal. Now, at the European Championships in Rome, the huge difference between the cross-dairy teams was evident. The current medal table, four days after the end of the competition, shows Italy at the top of the standings 44 medals (17 gold medals), Ukraine is in second place with 11 medals (9 gold) and Hungary is in third place with 12 medals (4 gold). Barring a surprise, Italy will take first place in the medal table for the first time in its history. At the moment, the question arises spontaneously. Why does Italy dominate this sport?
“The main reason for this explosion is the growth of a very good generation of young people,” said Fabio Scozzoli, two-time world runner-up in 2011 and three-time European champion, during the World Cup in Budapest. Niccolo Martinini (22 years), Benedict Pilate (17 years), Thomas will be (21 years old) are examples of this growth, all two-time world and European champions despite their short career. If historically Italy has been a reference in long distances thanks to the successes of stars such as Federica PellegriniAnd the Alicia Felipe also Gregorio Paltrinieri, Now the victories come quickly. The jewel of the team is called Gregorio Paltrinieri, the Olympic champion with 12 world medals (5 gold).
Ceccon, Martinenghi and the Pilato-Angiolini duo in the Italian’s victory in swimming
Italian stars at the European Swimming Championships
Frederic Grosstechnician from FIN (International Swimming Federation), explains the reason for the Italian success: “Work is a fruit 1500 little kids clubs in the country, with the participation of about 30,000 technicians,” declaring that the goal of the Transalpine team in the European Championship is to dominate the classification.
The hard thing to explain is the huge difference with our country. Spain has approximately 70,000 federal swimmers. In Italy, doubled, the account reaches 140 thousand. The money invested is a key factor for the development of this sport: 8000000 €37 for Italy, four times more. In addition, in Spain there 860 swimming clubHalf of what is in the trans-Alpine country of 1,500. 47 million people live in Spain; In Italy there are nearly 60, and there are 13 million more. They are noticeable differences, but this is an example that investing money in infrastructure and highlighting these sports can make you a global reference and can light up a country and make an international show.
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