Raphaël Stacchiotti (born 9 March 1992) is a Luxembourgish swimmer, who specialized in the freestyle and individual medley events. He is a four-time Olympian (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020), a multiple-time Luxembourgian record holder in all freestyle and medley events, and a double European junior champion. Stacchiotti also holds numerous meet records and collects a total of 49 medals (40 golds, seven silvers, and two bronzes) from the

Games of the Small States of Europe The Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) is a biennial multi-sport event, launched by the Republic of San Marino, organized by and featuring the National Olympic Committees of nine European small state, small states since 1985. The Games a ...

(2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019). At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, Stacchiotti became the youngest athlete (aged 16) to be chosen by the Luxembourg squad, and was given the honor of carrying the nation's flag in the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

Career

International career

Stacchiotti made his official debut, as Luxembourg's youngest athlete in history (aged 16) at the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, where he was given the honour of carrying the nation's flag in the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

. He qualified for the men's 200 m freestyle by eclipsing a FINA B-cut of 1:50.30 from the FINA World Junior Championships in

Monterrey, Mexico Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. Stacchiotti challenged seven other swimmers in heat four, including India's 16-year-old Virdhawal Khade and Czech Republic's three-time Olympian Květoslav Svoboda. He rounded out the field to last place by 0.15 of a second behind Khade in 1:52.01. Stacchiotti failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed forty-ninth overall out of 58 swimmers in the prelims. In 2009, Stacchiotti earned his first ever career gold medal in the 200 m individual medley (2:02.56) at the European Junior Championships in

Prague, Czech Republic Prague ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan area is home to approximately 2.3 m ...

. Two weeks later, at the

FINA World Championships The World Aquatics Championships, formerly the FINA World Championships, are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines: Swimming (sport), swimming, Diving (sport), diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water ...

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, Stacchiotti placed forty-seventh in the 200 m individual medley (2:05.51), thirty-fifth in the 400 m individual medley (4:26.63), and forty-fifth in the 200 m freestyle (1:49.61, a Luxembourgish record). At the 2010 European Junior Swimming Championships in

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

, Stacchiotti stormed home on the final lap to defend his 200 m individual medley title in 2:02.52, holding off Great Britain's Ieuan Lloyd by two-tenths of a second (0.20). He also collected a silver medal in the 400 m individual medley at 4:21.28. At the 2011 FINA World Championships in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, Stacchiotti failed to reach the semifinals in any of his individual events, finishing twentieth each in the 200 m individual medley (2:00.87) and 400 m individual medley (4:20.64), both with a personal textile best and a new Luxembourgish record.

2012 Summer Olympics

Stacchiotti competed in an individual medley double, as a 20-year-old, at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

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. He achieved Olympic invitation times (formerly a

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

B-standard) of 2:00.22 (200 m individual medley) and 4:18.98 (400 m individual medley) from the European Long Course Meet in Luxembourg City. On the first day of the Games, Stacchiotti placed eighteenth in the 400 m individual medley. Swimming in heat two, he blasted a new Luxembourgian record of 4:17.20, but came up short in second place by nearly half a second (0.50) behind Belgium's Ward Bauwens. Four days later, in the 200 m individual medley, Stacchiotti registered a time of 2:00.38, just a small fraction outside his own record, but missed the semifinals by a tenth of a second (0.10) behind Canada's Andrew Ford. Ending up with frustration and disbelief, Stacchiotti failed in what was to be his most surprising moment of all time: "It's my fault. I completely lost my rhythm during the breaststroke”.

Personal bests

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stacchiotti, Raphael 1992 births Living people Luxembourgian male swimmers Luxembourgian male freestyle swimmers Male medley swimmers Olympic swimmers for Luxembourg Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Luxembourg City 21st-century Luxembourgian sportsmen