Engagements, weddings and proposals: when love dives into the pool

When you say swimming, you say love. For the sport, for training, for sacrifice. But also among colleagues because, at the European championships and elsewhere, there are many couples in the world of swimming. The Roma 2022 patroness, Italy's Federica Pellegrini, will soon marry her former coach, Matteo Giunta, while on the Italian team there is a couple who had their wedding a few weeks ago: captain Fabio Scozzoli and Martina Carraro, who won a silver medal in the women's 200m breaststroke. Furthermore, among the Italian athletes, there is fencing champion Rossella Fiamingo, the girlfriend of Gregorio Paltrinieri, while artistic swimmer Costanza Di Camillo had her partner Matteo Aicardi, water polo world champion and Olympic silver medallist, cheering on her in the stands.

Alberto Razzetti , gold medallist in the men's 400m medley and bronze medallist in the 200m butterfly at these European championships, is the boyfriend of Canadian individual medley swimmer Tessa Cieplucha, while Simona Quadarella has a long-time relationship with swimmer Alessandro Fusco. The 1500m freestyle European champion Mykhaylo Romanchuk changed sports and married long jump and triple jump champion Maryna Bekh. A wedding also for another star of the battles in the pool with the Ukrainian and Paltrinieri: Florian Wellbrock married fellow freestyle swimmer Sarah Kohler, who wanted to take her husband's last name right away. Fabrizio Antonelli, Paltrinieri's coach, five years ago married swimmer Martina De Memme, who will be competing in the women's 5km open water swimming event, while high diving world bronze medallist Alessandro De Rose is in love with Nicole Belsasso, his coach.

At the Foro Italico there is also the French-Swiss couple consisting of Charlotte Bonnet and Jérémy Desplanches: she won gold in the 4x100m freestyle mixed relay and silver in the 4x200m freestyle mixed relay and in the 100m freestyle, and this evening he is competing in the 200m individual medley final. There was also a marriage proposal at Roma 2022: Italy's Chiara Tarantino proposed to fellow swimmer Lorenzo Mora live on TV. But it wasn't love, it was just Euro Fantasy Aquatics.