In the Italy that wins in swimming (even in the short course) there is a shortage of women

Together with the World Cup, the other World Cup has also finished, the one in short course swimming which was held last week in Melbourne, Australia. Italy was surgical in equaling the record for medals established a year ago in Abu Dhabi, 16, and did so with a much lower number of squads than last year, 19 against 31. In reality, Italy has even improved, because it has won five golds, six silvers and five bronzes, one silver more than the numbers of 2021 (5-5-6), and among the many reasons why this World Cup will also inserted among the milestones of Italian swimming must be added two world records, the first individual title in the medley, the third place in the overall medal table and, in the absence of Russia, the confirmation of the role of first European power behind the United States and Australia . But above all, and it had never happened before, Italy reached the podium in all five men’s relays in which it participated: gold with the 4×100 freestyle, gold with the 4×50 medley, silver with the 4×50 freestyle, bronze with the 4×200 freestyle and bronze with the 4×100 mixed. Not even the US has succeeded.

This figure indicates the difference between the World Cup of Italy for men and that for Italy for women. In Melbourne the only woman who won an individual medal was Sara Franceschi, silver in the 400 medleyfor the rest the group suffered from absences (Simona Quadarella and Martina Carraro above all), a non-exceptional state of form (Benedetta Pilato) and the lack of short course specialists (Margherita Panziera is not, and in reality not even the same Pilato who, in the words of his coach Vito D’Onghia, “maybe it’s first or second, then it turns, comes out of the underwater and finds itself fourth”).

However, the disproportion between the medals worn by men and women is not a fact that can be limited only to the Australian week, but a trend that has been going on more or less since the retirement of Federica Pellegrini. Let’s take a random event from the last decade, the European Long Course Championships in Berlin 2014: 15 medals including eight for men, six for women and one from the medley relay. Practically fifty-fifty. At the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, however, out of six medals only one came from women, and even in the magical summer of 2022, between the World Cup in Budapest and the European Championship in Rome, the women’s loot was only a third of the total (respectively 3 out of 9 and 13 out of 35).

“We also need to create that unifying and winning spirit among girls that now unites men,” said Italy’s technical director Cesare Butini. “Surely making a group in women is a little more difficult”, explains Vito D’Onghia, Benedetta Pilato’s coach, “but in reality the group is there. In this edition of the World Championships, the difference in altitude was more evident, but let’s not forget that, for example, in the women’s breaststroke we have five exceptional athletes: Benedetta, Martina Carraro, Arianna Castiglioni, Lisa Angiolini and Francesca Fangio. The results will come, many strong young people are pounding from below”.

In Melbourne, Benedetta Pilato was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100m breaststroke and finished seventh in the final of the 50m. On Sunday, after her last race, she sounded a small alarm to the Rai microphones: “I might not do the Riccione spring absolutes”, which act as a qualifying stage for the next major international event, the long course World Championships in Fukuoka (Japan) scheduled for July 2023. D’Onghia, however, calms the waters: “It was just a provocation. What he meant was that, given that she wasn’t in top form but expectations of her are always very high and even in recent days we have read some very strong headlines, next time we will think twice before participating in a race if she is not at better. She is still 17 years old, she comes from a 2022 full of victories, this year she too has maturity: she must be protected. In sport you win and you lose: in Italy we are more attached to results than to performance, but hardly anyone noticed that last year in the 50 breaststroke she won silver in 29”50, while this year she finished seventh with a best time, 29”48”.