Filippo Magnini (born 1982) is a 6'2" (1.87m) Italian swimmer who was twice 100
meter freestyle World champion and three times European champion at
that distance.
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 honor in 2003, with a silver medal in 100 m freestyle at
the European Swimming Championships (short course) in Dublin. He won
more three 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. 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.
 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 x 100 m. Since then he has won silver and medals
at the World Short Course Championships (silver - 100 m freestyle,
2007, 4 x 100 m freestyle, 2012, 4 x 200 m freestyle, 2014; bronze - 4
x 200 m freestyle, 2008, 4 x 50 m freestyle, 2014), and gold, silver
and bronze medals at European level.
He got a reputation at the London 2012 Olympics for
being a sore loser. After he failed to quality for his events he
blamed his coach and leaders instead of himself. |
