Filippo Magnini (Italian pronunciation: [fiˈlippo maɲˈɲiːni]; born 2 February 1982) is an Italian retired competitive swimmer who was twice 100 metres freestyle World champion and three times European champion at that distance.
Biography
editMagnini was born in Pesaro, Marche.
As a youth he played basketball, soccer, beach volleyball and tennis, but shifted to swimming at the age of ten. His first cap with Italian Swimming National Team was in 1998. Raised as a breaststroker, after 2000 he dedicated totally to freestyle swimming, soon to achieving noteworthy results. Magnini gained his first international honour in 2003, with a silver medal in 100 m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships (short course) in Dublin. He won three more gold medals (in the 100 m, 4×100 m relay and 4×200 m relay freestyle) and one bronze medal at the 2004 European Championships (long course) in Madrid. At the 2004 Summer Olympics Magnini won the bronze medal in the 4×200 m freestyle relay, achieving 5th place in the 100 m freestyle.[5] His steady rise reached its highest point at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships, where he won the gold medal in the men's 100 m freestyle with the time of 48.12, then the all-time second fastest behind Pieter van den Hoogenband's world record.[6]
At the 2006 European Aquatics Championships he won the gold medal in the 100 m and in the 4×200 m freestyle races, and a bronze in the 200 m freestyle. The following year, he defended his world championship gold medal in the 100 m, when he tied for first place with Canadian Brent Hayden in a time of 48.43, resulting in joint gold. He also won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m. Since then he has won silver and medals at the World Short Course Championships (silver – 100 m freestyle, 2007, 4 × 100 m freestyle, 2012, 4 × 200 m freestyle, 2014; bronze – 4 × 200 m freestyle, 2008, 4 x 50 m freestyle, 2014), and gold, silver and bronze medals at European level.
Magnini's nickname is "Superpippo". Pippo is the normal Italian nickname of Filippo but also of Goofy's Italian version, and therefore the complete nickname refers to the funny superhero in which the comics character transforms sometimes in his Italian edition. From August 2011 has a romance with fellow swimmer Federica Pellegrini.[7]
On 8 July 2019, it was reported that Magnini saved newlywed Andrea Benedetto from drowning off a Sardinian beach. "The bather was in a lot of trouble: he was quite frightened, he was really stuck and had swallowed some seawater," Magnini said. "When I reached him he wasn't even able to speak, and it wasn't easy to lift him on to the raft, so we laid him on an airbed that some other bathers had nearby."[8]
London 2012 controversy
editAt the 2012 Olympics Magnini failed to qualify for the finals in all the events he was competing in. After these disappointing performances he blamed the coach and the swimming team leaders for poor training management of the whole Italian team, spurring a strong media reaction for what was judged as an immature and irresponsible behavior.[9]
Palmarès
edit| Olympics | World Ch. | World Ch. (SC) | European Ch. | European Ch (SC) | Total | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tot | |||||||||||||||||||
| Individual | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 23 |
| Team | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 30 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 53 |
Personal bests
editIn long-course swim pools Magnini's personal bests are:
- 100 m freestyle: 48.04 (46.52 in short course)
- 200 m freestyle: 1:47.20 (1:42.89 in short course)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "2004 Olympic Games swimming results". CNN. Archived from the original on 14 August 2004. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
- ^ "Montreal 2005 Results". Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2007.
- ^ "12th FINA World Championships". Archived from the original on 6 June 2007. Retrieved 9 June 2007.
- ^ "Shanghai 2006 results". Archived from the original on 6 March 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2007.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Filippo Magnini". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- ^ "Filippo Magnini, la biografia del campione di nuoto italiano". True News. (in Italian). 14 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
- ^ "Filippo Magnini and Federica Pellegrini pose naked in Vanity Fair". swimmersdaily.com. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
- ^ "Olympic swimmer saves drowning newly-wed". 8 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
- ^ "Londra 2012, l'Italia nuota nel veleno. Tutti contro Magnini: "Ha sbagliato"" (in Italian). ilfattoquotidiano.it. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
External links
edit- Filippo Magnini at World Aquatics
- Filippo Magnini at SwimRankings.net
- Filippo Magnini at Olympedia
- Filippo Magnini at the Italian National Olympic Committee (in Italian)
- Magnini Filippo on agendadiana.com (in English)
- Magnini Filippo on Italian Swimming Federation's website (in Italian)
- Official website