Bottazzo from America to the World Cup in Singapore with many dreams

On the same topic:

Anita Bottazzo has a slight Anglo-Saxon accent. Gone are the days when she would dive into the pool in Preganziol, even backstroking, and do a few strokes with her dad. For a year, she's been living, studying, and training in Florida, with the Florida Gators in Gainesville, and today, despite initial difficulties, America feels like home. Coming from a family of rugby players, she's become more drawn to turns and then breaststroke than the allure of tackling. "When I was little, my parents took my sister and I to the pool right away so we could learn to swim, which was crucial. I was taking a few courses in Preganziol and they asked me if I wanted to try a competitive swimming class (a type of introductory course, ed.). I accepted: it didn't change much, just the training increased, and I also made friends. I used to swim backstroke until I was 10, then, during a "Bremen Fallen Cup," someone on my team was missing from the breaststroke: they threw me in, and it went well, without any spectacular times, but I kept going." Bottazzo, born in 2003 in Oderzo (Veneto), is a natural-born competitor, always driven by the desire to challenge others. After swimming in Imola, she moved to the United States and is now preparing for the World Championships in Singapore, with competitions starting tomorrow. “I think I'm feeling pretty good. I didn't even do the Settecolli to prepare for the event: it was an intense three months after the Italian Championships. I returned to the United States and started preparing for the World Championships. I did a few races in Canada and Florida, and the feeling is good.”

The Italian will compete in the 100 and 50 breaststroke: in the longer distance, there's no shortage of competition, especially at the Italian level with Benedetta Pilato and Lisa Angiolini in the lead. "At the international level, I like the presence of so many competitive people; it stimulates me, it excites me, and I know most of the breaststrokers well. Internally, it's different: at the Italian Championships, you have to give your all, maybe a hundred times more than you do against the others; you have to earn your spot... often, you miss out because of a few details. It's negative but also positive; it pushes you to give 100 percent." The 50, now an Olympic discipline, will be another opportunity for a podium finish: "It's a fast race, we'll see how it goes, but I like it; after all, I started with the 50." In Singapore, she'll break the ice with the 100m on Monday the 28th, but with a regret: "I love women's football and I followed the European Championship as much as I could... they play when it's dark here, so I barely managed to see anything. The final is tomorrow, and I'm competing on Monday... I'll miss it." She's adept at different time zones and time zones, in a certain sense, having lived overseas since 2024. Florida, where she's studying biotechnology with the dream of researching genetic diseases, was an almost instinctive but necessary choice.

“The 2023/24 season wasn't easy, both swimming-wise and personally. Nothing serious happened. I needed new experiences, to meet new people, to get out of my bubble a bit, even if it wasn't really one. I went to training, but I wasn't going to university... I needed some motivation. In the United States, many people study and swim. I started thinking about it and talking to various universities. Then I realized that Florida could be a good solution.” A choice made blindfolded, like when you dive and you don't always know how the races will go. “I couldn't have predicted what would happen, but like everything, if you feel good on a personal level, you feel good in the water too.” In the United States, she found an environment ready to help her, with athletes who supported her in everything, especially outside the lanes. From a technical standpoint, there aren't many differences. What's changed the least is swimming. Even though the training sessions are very dynamic, I rarely get bored. We don't just swim long and short distances, but we also do yardages, which is useful for turns and underwater movements. Culturally, I appreciate their mentality; it's much more open and challenging, even for the sport. It's almost like a game; they enjoy competing and doing things. Plus, they're very kind.

Kindness is a key word in Anita Bottazzo's journey and her American adventure: "All my teammates were welcoming, I never felt alone, and they even helped me with the language, making themselves available to repeat phrases or words. I struggled at first, but they took care of me, and I had a good support system." Moreover, in the pool she met many champions : "Everyone gave me something, especially Katie Ledecky. She is an example of humility, she works hard every day and more than anyone else. She is a very calm girl and has always made herself available."

More on these topics: