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Photo by Aniko Kovacs, Italian Swimming Federation
Italy has always belonged to the continental powerhouses. They joined the European party in 1938 and they finished outside the top 5 only 7 times in their following 29 appearances. They stood on the podium 11 times (3-2-7): won the title in 1947, 1993, 1995, were runners-up in 2001 and 2010 and bronze medallists in 1954, 1977, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2014 and in the last edition in 2024. On their last 17 appearances, since 1987, they missed the semis only 6 times (1997, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2016, 2020). The 2003 performance was the worst ever (9th). They came 4th in 1950, 1958, 1966, 1970, 1991, 2012, 2018 and in 2022, 5th in 1938, 1974, 1985, 2006, 2008, 6th in 1981, 1997, 2016, 2020 and 8th in 1962.
Italy also produced fantastic results on the world stage: were Olympic champions in 1948, 1960 and 1992, clinched the world title in 1978, 1994, 2011 and in Gwangju 2019, and lost the final in a shootout against Spain in 2022 in Budapest, then again, to Croatia, in Doha 2024. Further medals at the Olympics: silver in 1976 and 2012, bronze in 1952, 1996 and 2016 – Worlds silver in 1986, 2003, 2022, 2024, bronze in 1975. Also won the World Cup in 1993 and grabbed their first-ever World League trophy in 2022.
Since Alessandro Campagna returned from Greece and took over the national team for the second time (during his first spell Italy was runner-up at the Europeans and 4th in Worlds in 2001), the Italians started to roll in 2010. They barely missed the semis of the big tournaments: 2010: ECH: 2., 2011: WL: 2., WCH: 1., 2012 ECH: 4., WL: 3., OG: 2., 2013: WL: 3., WCH: 3., 2014: WL: prel., ECH: 3., 2015: WL: 7., WCH: 4., 2016: ECH: 6., WL: 4., OG: 3. 2017: WL: 2., WCH: 6. 2018: WL: prel. ECH: 4., 2019: WP: prel., WCH: 1., 2020: ECH: 6., OG: 7. 2022: WCH: 2., WL: 1., ECH: 4, 2023: WC: 2., WCH: 5., 2024: ECH: 3., WCH: 2., OG: 7., 2025: WCH: 7. In 31 events they reached the semis on 33 occasions – though they didn’t survive the quarters at the 2020 Europeans and at the Olympics, but bounced back to clinch silver at the Worlds and gold in the World League in 2022.
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