Italy continues to shine in the European Swimming Championships underway in Belgrade. Two more medals arrive from Serbia: in the five kilometers in open water Ginevra Taddeucci (in the picture) wins silver among women, while Marcello Guidi wins bronze over the same distance among men.
The Italian open water medal count thus rises to five medals: in recent days, the gold of Gregorio Paltrinieri, the silver and bronze of Barbara Pozzobon and Giulia Gabbrielleschi arrived in the 10 kilometres.
For Taddeucci and Guidi these are two historic medals
as they are their first at a continental level. «I'm preparing for the Settecolli to try to get the Olympic pass and for this reason I decided to only do the five kilometer race and then the relay on Saturday – explains Ginevra Taddeucci – To keep myself a little lighter. A ten thousand on my shoulders I could have felt it much more; it was a good race that also put me to the test in view of the next seventh, faster than usual and where I could wait a little longer to shoot. This first medal makes me happy and I want to dedicate it to myself.”
The Florentine athlete was preceded by the German Leonie Beck, the bronze went to the Hungarian Bettina Fabian. The other Italian Rachele Bruni came eleventh. «A medal I've been looking for for a long time», explains Marcello Guidi who placed third behind the Hungarian David Betlehem and the French Marc-Antoine Olivier.
In the artistic competition Giorgio Minisini won silver in the free solo. The gold medal was awarded to Britain's Ranjuo Tomblin. The bronze went to Frenchman Quentin Rakotomalala. In the women's race, Valentina Bisi remained off the podium, preceded by the Austrian Vasiliki Alexandri, the German Klara Bleyer and the Dutch Marloes Liselotte Steenbeek. Finally, the denunciation of the Spaniard Dennis Gonzales, double gold in Belgrade, causes a stir. The Iberian champion reported having suffered homophobic insults after the publication of a video which portrays him winning a race. «I put the video online with my victory and the comments
they are absurd. I don't know if we're in the 20th! century and in the 10th BC – he explains – «Some people call me “mermaid” or “trout” but they are people who have never won anything in their life, who don't know what discipline or work is, they don't know what it means to be champions of Europe and what it all means.” “It doesn't matter to me but I know it can have an impact on a child who has just started artistic swimming and who receives comments like that,” she concludes.
Bronze medal, however, in artistic swimming. In the acrobatic routine test, the Italian team – made up of Beatrice Andina, Valentina Bisi, Beatrice Esegio, Alessia Macchi, Giorgia Lucia Macino, Marta Murru, Carmen Rocchino and Sophie Tabbiani – obtained third place with 159.2966, finishing far from Germany, gold with 192.7166, and from Greece, silver with 191.8100.