TOKYO – July 27, 2021: Italian swimming sensation, Federica Pellegrini, made history at Tokyo 2020 on Tuesday by qualifying for the Olympic final in the 200 meters freestyle for the fifth consecutive time. No woman swimmer had ever achieved this feat before, in the same event, and only Michael Phelps has done it among the men.
“This was not my minimum target for these games, it was my real aim for these Olympics,” Pellegrini told at the end of her semifinal. “It was tough because the level has risen a great deal. – Pellegrini said – It will be the last. Tomorrow I want to enjoy it until the end. It will be a great fun, perhaps like the first Olympics final for me”.
The 32-year-old Italian swimmer, a six-time World champion, won the gold medal in the same event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver at her first Games in Athens in 2004. “There is no one in the world like her,” said Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio via Facebook.
“Federica Pellegrini gave us a unique feeling once again. She is the first woman swimmer to reach five consecutive Olympic finals in her speciality”.