Four years ago, the first book published by the editorial staff of swimmingunostiledivita.it ended like this:
“50 stories are not a sufficient number to cover the vastness of the swimming world in all its nuances. There are many swimmers, historical passages and noteworthy aspects that have been left out… and that perhaps one day we will recover to give them due credit.”
“Maybe someday” and so here we are.
It was the spring of 2023 when during one of the many editorial meetings we started to outline the idea of a book dedicated to swimming at the Olympic Games. What we wanted to create was a sort of guide dedicated to all swimming enthusiasts to make the most of the Olympics, a handbook with historical curiosities, key figures and extraordinary competitions that cannot be missed.
This time too we had to make difficult choices, 50 stories are not a few but they do not even allow us to tell all the events that have characterized these 120 years of Olympic history.
In short, this book was written with the aim of narrating the exploits of the greatest swimmers ever who participated in the Olympics, marking the history of world swimming. Starting from the very first and rudimentary competitions, held in Athens way back in 1896, up to the present day, with the next one, now upon us, which will be held in Paris in 2024.
All editions of the Games have had a single common thread, apparently evident, but which at the same time remains hidden in the most unattainable meanders. An indestructible, powerful thread that carries the essence of sport, of swimming in this case, together with the emotions of joy and disappointment, the desire for victory and revenge, the desire to get involved until the last drop of energy , with the fear of failure and the strength to start over and try again.
The Olympics attest to a concrete and pure example of life, a model from which each of us can and should draw, as they are a real instruction manual for the athlete and for the individual who wants to learn from the greatest of all time , improving the performance of body and soul and avoiding, as far as possible, making mistakes that have already been made.
The wait for the Olympics, the most important sporting event ever, is something evocative, wonderful, inimitable. Athletes know it, they feel it in their gut, like a desire for hunger. It is a fundamental year for them, it is literally the year in which the future is decided, the present materializes, the past is confirmed, for better or for worse. The moment in which, every four years, the results of a sporting life cycle of physical and mental preparation come to light, on which each athlete who takes part has worked intensely day after day.
Each with their own strengths and potential, with the means available and by these we also and above all mean the structures offered by the countries of origin, without sparing themselves. All this not only for oneself, but above all for one’s nation, from the most extensive and powerful, up to the state whose location on the world map is perhaps not even known, of which the individual, citizen of the world, the athlete , represents the colors of the flag printed on the cap and on the uniform on the chest, not surprisingly near the heart. That same flag displayed when you go up to the podium, or simply a flag affectionately thrown by the spectator in the stands during the parade of athletes on the edge of the pool.
Different languages, distant cultures and traditions, visions of the world that might even appear strange to some, but which blend into a single container of voices, emotions, national anthems, shows, sports dramas, in a single word: Olympics.
In these pages that smell of chlorine and tell of swimming, every reader should imagine himself sitting comfortably on the stands, going through all the historical phases of the 20th century, living with his own eyes and with the images in his mind that we will try to revive as clearly as possible, the unique spectacle that swimming can offer. A sport that has seen, directly witnessed and undergone profound changes in the techniques and forms, in the competition methods, in increasingly precise and infallible refereeing and in many other facets and contours which have led it, over time, to increasingly border on perfection, as well as performances of a very high profile, almost unimaginable.
There is no longer any way or time to hide, for anyone who actively takes part in it, in particular for swimmers, brave athletes to say the least, protagonists of a tough sport, who do not know what forgiveness is, where even a miserable hundredth, an almost imperceptible period of time, as we will see, can make the difference between an Olympic victory and a bitter defeat.
In both cases, the names of those who took part will remain indelible and engraved forever in the annals of this magnificent sport which, since 2011, Swimming a lifestyle has aimed to pass on and describe its beauty.
“50 Stories About Swimming, Olympic Edition” is available at Amazonboth in paper version and in Ebooks. All we have to do is wish you happy reading.
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Author Profile
- Stefano Ciollaro
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My name is Stefano Ciollaro, I was born in 1990 and my life has always revolved around a single element, water: the salty one of our splendid seas, the sweet one of the lakes, the one that smells of chlorine in the swimming pools. The magnificent world of swimming is inextricably linked to all of this, which for me represents joy, harmony, balance.
