Federica Pellegrini finished swimming. The great Italian won the last race of her career at the age of 33. In Riccione, she was the fastest in the 200-meter freestyle, her number, which she still holds the world record for. Her farewell was a big party: Grazie Fede!
Since the Tokyo Olympics, where Pellegrini made history by participating in a fifth consecutive Olympic final in the 200-meter freestyle, she has only competed in the International Indoor Swimming League (ISL).
To bid her farewell, La Divina chose to race in Riccione, which is important for the Italian short track championships. She won at 1’54” 95.
And the Italian star wrote “Last Free 200” on her social networking sites, where she broadcast the ceremony live. By doing so, she also dragged the President of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), Giovanni Malago, fully dressed, into the pool. (read under the picture)
“I still love swimming, but I won’t miss getting tired”
In Italy, there was a lot of interest in bidding farewell to Olympian, four-time world champion and eight-time European champion. The meeting was called “Gratsy Feed”. Thoroughly enjoy Pellegrini. She posted a lot of impressions about her own story.
“It’s been 20 years of swimming and exhaustion. I loved swimming and still love it. I will miss the group the most, but what I definitely won’t lose is the tiredness during training.”
“Olympic title (in Beijing 2008), victories and world records, five consecutive Olympics finals… Thanks for everything, Fidi,” Coni wrote on his Twitter account.
Watch the Pellegrini tribute ceremony:
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