13th FINA World Swimming Championships

Rome 2009

ARRIVEDERCI ROMA!

The 13th FINA World Championships closed in typical Italian style last night. The fitting theme for the evening was water with holograms of waves and under water creatures colliding with dancers clad in swimsuits to spectacular effect.

Speedo sponsored Italian swim-star Filippo Magnini led the flag parade concluding the tradition with the handover of the FINA flag to Shanghai the host for the 14th FINA World Championships in 2011.

It’s been a memorable World Championships for Speedo, with Speedo sponsored teams taking the top three places – USA, AUS, GBR - in the points table. Recently signed to Team Speedo, the Chinese swim team came 5th on the list.

Highlights for Team Speedo included:

Speedo sponsored USA’s Michael Phelps swimming to epic victory in the 100m butterfly, blowing rival Milorad Cavic out of the water and becoming the first man to swim the race in less than 50 seconds, with a time of 49.82. The swimming super-star chose the Speedo LZR Racer suit for all his races, collecting 6 medals – 5 gold and one silver – in total.

Phelps’ team-mate and friend, Ryan Lochte, shone at the meet too, collecting 4 gold medals and a bronze and a WR for Team Speedo. All wearing the Speedo LZR Racer!

The Speedo-sponsored GBR team’s Gemma Spofforth swam into the record books in the Speedo LZR Racer suit in the 100m backstroke taking 0.36 off the previous record. While Speedo elite team swimmer, Liam Tancock broke his own World Record, set the day before in the semi-final, in the 50m Backstroke, taking gold with a time of 24.04.

Speedo star Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe wore her LZR Racer suit with pride in the women’s 400m individual medley to take the silver in a time of 4:32.12 and smashed the world record and collected gold with a time of 2:04.81 in the 200m backstroke.

Speedo swim star, Michael Phelps (USA) picked up for the award for ‘Best Male swimmer’ at the meet while Federica Pellegrini (ITA) collected ‘Best Female’. The Speedo-sponsored USA swim team won best team.

Out of the pool the international PR team kept Team Speedo busy and in the headlines with activities such as:

Team Speedo PAs. Star athletes such as Filippo Magnini (ITA) and Tom Daley (Team Speedo’s GBR) dropped into the Roma09 Speedo store for photographs and autograph signings.

• - Team Speedo in lights. Projections of Michael Phelps (USA), Libby Trickett (AUS) and Filippo Magnini (ITA) onto iconic Roman landmarks such as the Coliseum and Ponte Milvio to the delight of tourists and locals alike.
• - The Speedo sight-seeing tour. After the competition athletes enjoyed the sights of the eternal city stopping to have their photograph taken at the Coliseum.
• - Team Speedo legacy. 17 athletes, including Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Liam
• - Tancock and Rebecca Adlington had their hands cast in concrete to join the Speedo hall of fame.

One of the biggest success stories to come out of the 13th FINA World Championships has to be the Roma09 Speedo store. Spectators shopped until they dropped during the competition with queues trailing out of the door every day. Well done Speedo Italy for this undeniably resounding success!

Arrivederci Roma 2009 and here’s to saying ni hao Shanghai 2011!