Federica Pellegrini allegedly received the Leone del Veneto (Lion of Venice) award at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista held in Venice, Italy on January 11th. Well, Pellegrini is the first woman to receive Lion of Venice award, which is given out by the regional council to a Venitian citizen who have distinguished themselves in professional or humanitarian endeavors. This award was established in the year 1999, which was most recently awarded to Federico Faggin for his role in creating the first microprocessor.
Pellegrini, has been nicknamed the Lioness of Verona, because she was trained in Verona but she hailed from Venice, where the Lion of St. Mark is in the city Coat of Arms.
She is the defending world champion in the 200 free, has even won the event at the World Championships last year, which marked her 6th Worlds Championship gold, with four of them coming in the 200 free. You will be amazed to know that Pellegrini is a two-time Olympic medalist, she won silver in Athens (2004) and gold in Beijing (2008), both of these medals came in the 200 free. After winning silver in Athens she became the youngest Olympic medalist in Italy’s history as she was just 16 years old.
Pellegrini’s has also served as a judge on season 7 of Italia’s Got Talent. Besides, she has 1.1 million followers on Instagram and roughly 750,000 followers on Twitter.
This season she alleged to hold the 5th fast time in the world in the 100 free, after taking second in the event at the Tokyo stop of the FINA World Cup in a time of 53.40. Currently, she is preparing for her 5th Olympics. There are rumors that she may attempt to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris as well. She may even retire following this summer’s Olympics.
