Emanuele Merisi (born 10 October 1972) is an Italian former professional swimmer, specialized in

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimme ...

, who won a bronze medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Career

Merisi was born in Treviglio,

province of Bergamo The Province of Bergamo ( it, provincia di Bergamo; lmo, proìnsa de Bèrghem) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It has a population of 1,112,187 (2017), an area of , and contains 243 '' comuni''. Its capital is the city of Bergamo ...

( Lombardy). He began to swim at the age of 8, becoming a member of the Italian national team in 1989. His first important medal was at the European LC Championships 1993 in Sheffield, where he won a bronze medal in his favourite race, the 200 m backstroke. He repeated the result in the European LC Championships 1995, this time as a member of the 4×200 m freestyle relay. Merisi presented at the 1996 Summer Olympics with the best time of the year in the 200 m backstroke, 1:57.70. This is still today the Italian record. In the race, however, he was not able to repeat this outstanding result: he gained only a bronze medal after Americans Brad Bridgewater and Tripp Schwenk, both with times largely superior to that time. A talented and long-career swimmer, captain of Italian team in his last years, Merisi took part to two more editions of Summer Olympics, including 2000, in which he was ranked again amongst the favourites in 200 m backstroke and arrived 5th. His results include two more silver (1997 and 2000) and a bronze medal (1999) at the European Championships, all in the 200 m backstroke.

Personal bests

*100 m backstroke: 55.53 *200 m backstroke: 1:57.70

References

RAI Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merisi, Emanuele 1972 births Living people People from Treviglio Italian male swimmers Italian male backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers of Italy Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Olympic bronze medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Swimmers at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Universiade medalists in swimming Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming Universiade gold medalists for Italy Universiade silver medalists for Italy Universiade bronze medalists for Italy Swimmers of Centro Sportivo Carabinieri Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Sportspeople from the Province of Bergamo 20th-century Italian people