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Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia\/Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

In September she announced that the ISL in Naples would represent her final bow only to continue with Aqua after they reached the playoffs in Eindhoven.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the 33-year-old finished third over 200 free before she swam the freestyle leg in the mixed medley relay as Aqua came fifth.<\/p>\n

And so concluded a career that brought two Olympic medals, six world titles among 11 medals and seven European golds as part of an overall haul of 20.<\/p>\n

She reached the podium at every World Championships since 2005 in the 200 free and leaves the pool as the defending champion following victory in 2019 and 2017.<\/p>\n

Becky Adlington<\/strong> swam many a time in the same pool as the Italian and ahead of her retirement, she told Swimming World:<\/p>\n

“Words can\u2019t describe somebody at the top of her game like her.<\/p>\n
“It just shows her mental strength which must be unbelievable to train for that long as well because it isn\u2019t just the racing, it\u2019s putting your body through that amount of training for that length of time is absolutely huge.<\/p>\n
“It shows her physique and her race ability too: she must just love to race to be able to do it for as long as she did.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Adlington won the 400 free in Beijing in which Pellegrini had arrived as world record-holder and favourite.<\/p>\n
Instead, she was fifth but responded to the blow by returning to set a world record of 1:55.45 in the 200 heats the very same day en-route to gold.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/p>\n
Adlington recalled:<\/p>\n
“She was really good at the 400 back then: she is somebody I raced so much.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes you go to these top meets and you think is that person going to be in shape and they can be a bit hit and miss whereas with Federica you could always rely on her to put in a good performance.<\/p>\n
“She was one of those you just knew was going to be a tough competitor to stand up and race against her.<\/p>\n
“I never liked racing against her on the 200 because I knew I stood no chance and her back end and speed is absolutely immense.<\/p>\n
“The stand-out has got to be the world record: even now, even today I go \u2018how is that the world record?\u2019 It is just absolutely insane. It is such an incredible world record \u2013 you just go how is that even possible?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There was clearly a two-way respect and warmth between the pair with Adlington adding:<\/p>\n
“She got an immense amount of respect poolside.<\/p>\n
“You get these athletes that everybody likes, everybody warms to and everybody looks up to and respects and kind of is a role model \u2013 I think she is one of those.<\/p>\n
“Everybody is just a little bit in awe of her to be honest.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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A post shared by Federica Pellegrini (@kikkafede88)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n