Federica Pellegrini<\/strong> will bring the curtain down on a career that has brought Olympic, world and European titles at Season 3 of the International Swimming League<\/strong> which starts in Naples, Italy<\/strong>, in August.<\/p>\n

The Italian will compete in her fifth Olympics next month in Tokyo, 17 years after her debut at Athens 2004 where she won silver behind Camelia Potec<\/strong> in the 200 free, 12 days after she turned 16.<\/p>\n

She upgraded to gold at Beijing 2008 where she responded to the disappointment of finishing fifth in the 400 to set a world record of 1:55.45 in the 200 heats the very same day.<\/p>\n

Come the final and Pellegrini once again lowered the world record to 1:54.82 en-route to the Olympic title.<\/p>\n

The six-time world champion will turn 33 on 5 August, nine days after the 200 free final in which she will end her international racing career.<\/p>\n

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Federica Pellegrini; Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli \/ Insidefoto \/ Deepbluemedia<\/p><\/div>\n
Then she will turn her attention to the ISL in Naples where she will once again represent the Aqua Centurions<\/strong> with the first stage of the season running in the southern Italian city from 26 August to 30 September.<\/p>\n
There is of course the possibility that the Aqua Centurions will progress from the first stage of the ISL although they haven’t done so in the first two seasons.<\/p>\n
In quotes reported in La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/a> <\/strong>from an ISL press conference, Pellegrini said:<\/p>\n
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“I’ll stop but not in Tokyo – that’s when my last (international) races will be.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
She added:<\/p>\n
“I’ll be there too in Naples. It will be like extra time in my career.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to close with the Tokyo Olympics but there is this opportunity and I like the idea of bringing it to a close in Naples with the ISL which will be a beautiful showcase.<\/p>\n
“I will have to be careful in those 40 days (following the Olympics) not to gain too much weight ….given the pizzas I will eat.<\/p>\n
“The pandemic has influenced this decision, in the sense that this last year and a half of everything stopping has given me the incentive to continue and get here.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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A post shared by Federica Pellegrini (@kikkafede88)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n