Eleven days, 231 medals up for grabs and 77 finals.
Rome is ready to transform itself into the swimming capital from 11 to 21 August with 1500 athletes from 50 different countries (excluding Russia and Belarus) who will compete in the tanks of the Foro Italico for the European Championships.
"They will be memorable" assures Paolo Barelli, president of FIN, to ANSA.
And if the Italian national team arrived at the World Cup in Budapest with the lights off, this time it will have all eyes on it.
"The athletes are aware of how important it is to be protagonists of these European Championships - continued Barelli - From a technical point of view, the results of a month and a half ago will not be easy to repeat, but many are young and have enormous growth potential and I I expect some exceptional performances ".
It could not be otherwise after the successes in Hungary: 22 medals, third place in the medal table and the only nation capable of going to medal in all disciplines.
Numbers that the blue team, led by Paltrinieri, will try to confirm with the 104 athletes called up (52 women and as many men), including all the medalists at the Tokyo Olympics and the Budapest World Championships.
From the youngest like Benedetta Pilato and Matteo Santoro to the more experienced Fabio Scozzoli and Ilaria Bianchi, passing through those who play at home like Simona Quadarella.
The man of the moment, however, remains Paltrinieri.
The opportunity is one of those greedy ones and that is to swim for the fiftieth time the 1500 under 15 '.
Difficult but not impossible for those who at the World Cup just played took home four medals out of five races available and aim to make podiums en plein in Rome and in "his" Ostia.
All in front of the eyes of 30,000 fans who have already bought tickets so far "for a good response from the public in a week on the international calendar certainly not favorable at the turn of August" underlines Barelli.
Needless to say, the godmother of this 36th edition of the European Championships will be Federica Pellegrini.
The "Divina" will return to the swimming pool that made her great and where at the 2009 World Cup she set the record (still standing) of the 200 style with a time of 1'52 "98. This time she will be without swimsuit and goggles, but in a different look, as well as the Foro Italico, transformed ad hoc for the
occasion from Sport and Health.
The grandstand on the short side of the pool of the swimming stadium is new, while at the Pietrangeli, which will host all the elite and masters artistic swimming, the temporary pool created for the European by the partner Fluidra has been added.
Under the South Curve, on the other hand, the diving tower was built with great heights and positioned within courts 1 and 2 of the tennis club: 40 meters in total height if we consider the swimming pool at the base and the 27-meter platform. reserved for divers.
In short, everything is really ready for an international event that will bring almost 20 broadcasters and radios from all over Europe for an economic impact (direct and indirect) of around 200 million euros.
An important return for a city that will also see Ukrainian athletes competing that Federnuoto hosts at its own expense from 8 March because sport is not only competitive spirit, but also solidarity.
