Massimiliano "Massi" Rosolino (born 11 July 1978) is an Italian retired competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

Biography

Born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

to an Italian father, Salvatore, and an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n mother, Carolyn, he moved to Australia at the age of three, coming back to Italy at six. Rosolino declared about his beginnings as a swimmer:

I learned to float by sheer chance at the age of 4. Instead of the common arm floating bands, they made me swim with a headboard. Unfortunately it had a hole, and by the time I finally got out of the small and deep pool, the headboard had drowned... The first real swimming course I took was when I was 6 years old, and after that, lesson by lesson, I got to the pre-competition level. I always had a hard life, even though I was physically well-built, I always had to fight to become number 1, and even though I won a lot of races, I remember every race with emotion: the first regional championships, the national ones, the Young Europeans, and of course all the stomach aches I had.

In 2002 he moved back to

to train with coach

Ian Pope Ian Pope (born 1962) is an Olympic Swimming Coach for Australia where he served on the 2000 and 2008 Olympic Teams. He was also selected as a coach for the Australian Swimming Team at 6 World Championships teams 2001 2003 2004 2005 2010 2012. He w ...

at the

Melbourne Vicentre Melbourne Vicentre is a swimming club based at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC), Melbourne, Australia. Its head coach is 1992 Olympian Craig Jackson, supported by Kenrick Monk, Brad Harris and others. Prior to his resignation in ...

Club. Rosolino represented

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in all of the four editions of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

since 1996. At the

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, he became the second Olympic champion ever in the history of Italian swimming as he won the gold medal in the 200 m individual medley (1:58.98, then Olympic and national record). He won two more medals: a silver medal in the 400 m freestyle setting the current European record (3:43.40) behind

Ian Thorpe Ian James Thorpe, (born 13 October 1982) is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along wit ...

, and a bronze medal in the 200 m freestyle (1:46.65) behind

Pieter van den Hoogenband Pieter Cornelis Martijn van den Hoogenband (; born 14 March 1978) is a Dutch retired swimmer. He is a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder. Early life Born in Maastricht, Limburg, he is the son of Cees-Rein van den Hoogenband ...

and

. At the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Rosolino won a bronze medal with the Italian team in the 4×200 m freestyle relay. Rosolino is the most successful athlete in the history of Italian swimming, with an overall count of 60 international medals. He became world champion in the 200 m individual medley at the 2001 World Championships in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

. He also won 3 silver medals and a bronze medal through 5 editions of the World Long Course Championships. He won a gold medal (4×200 m freestyle relay), 2 silver medals and 7 bronze medals at the World Short Course Championships; since 1995 he won 21 medals at the European LC Championships and 20 medals at the

European Short Course Swimming Championships The European Short Course Swimming Championships (variously referred to informally as the "Short Course Europeans" or "European 25m Championships") are a swimming meet, organized by LEN. The meet features swimmers from Europe, competing in events ...

, becoming European champion 14 times (7 long course, 7 short course).

Personal bests

Rosolino's personal bests are: * 100 m freestyle LC: 49.35 ''r'' (2007; World Championships in Melbourne). * 200 m freestyle LC: 1:46.60 ''sf'' (2000, Italian record; Olympic Games in Sydney). * 400 m freestyle LC: 3:43.40 (2000, European record; Olympic Games in Sydney). * 800 m freestyle LC: 7:50.40 (2005). * 1500 m freestyle LC: 15:09.28 (2001). * 50 m breaststroke LC: 29.29 (2004). * 100 m breaststroke LC: 1:03.81 (2003). * 200 m individual medley LC: 1:58.98 (2000; Olympic Games in Sydney). * 400 m individual medley LC: 4:17.30 (2003; World Championships in Barcelona).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosolino, Massimiliano 1978 births Living people Italian male breaststroke swimmers Italian male medley swimmers Olympic swimmers of Italy Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Naples Olympic gold medalists for Italy Olympic silver medalists for Italy Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Italian people of Australian descent Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Italian male freestyle swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European champions for Italy Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Swimmers at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Swimmers at the 2005 Mediterranean Games Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games 20th-century Italian people 21st-century Italian people

Biography

Personal bests

See also

References

External links