Emanuele Merisi (born 10 October 1972) is an Italian former professional swimmer, specialized in

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...

, who won a bronze medal in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Career

Merisi was born in

Treviglio Treviglio (, Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called "Bassa Bergamasca". It's also part of the geo ...

, province of Bergamo ( Lombardy). He began to swim at the age of 8, becoming a member of the Italian national team in 1989. His first important medal was at the

European LC Championships 1993 The 1993 European Aquatics Championships were held in Sheffield, United Kingdom from Tuesday 3 August to Sunday 8 August, in the 50 m pool of the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre. The 21st edition of the event was organised by the LE ...

in Sheffield, where he won a bronze medal in his favourite race, the 200 m backstroke. He repeated the result in the

European LC Championships 1995 The European LC Championships 1995 in aquatics were staged in Vienna, Austria from 22–27 August. The competition, organised by the LEN, was held in a temporary pool in the Prater Stadium. The aquatics championships featured contests in swi ...

, this time as a member of the 4×200 m freestyle relay. Merisi presented at the

with the best time of the year in the 200 m backstroke, 1:57.70. This is still today the Italian record. In the race, however, he was not able to repeat this outstanding result: he gained only a bronze medal after Americans

Brad Bridgewater Bradley Michael Bridgewater (born March 29, 1973) is an American former competition swimmer who won the gold medal in the men's 200-meter backstroke at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Bridgewater attended Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Florida ...

and Tripp Schwenk, both with times largely superior to that time. A talented and long-career swimmer, captain of Italian team in his last years, Merisi took part to two more editions of Summer Olympics, including 2000, in which he was ranked again amongst the favourites in 200 m backstroke and arrived 5th. His results include two more silver (1997 and 2000) and a bronze medal (1999) at the European Championships, all in the 200 m backstroke.

Personal bests

*100 m backstroke: 55.53 *200 m backstroke: 1:57.70

References

RAI Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merisi, Emanuele 1972 births Living people People from Treviglio Italian male swimmers Italian male backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers of Italy Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Olympic bronze medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Swimmers at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Universiade medalists in swimming Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming Universiade gold medalists for Italy Universiade silver medalists for Italy Universiade bronze medalists for Italy Swimmers of Centro Sportivo Carabinieri Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Sportspeople from the Province of Bergamo 20th-century Italian people