Swimming, Fabio Scozzoli: “I want to overcome my limits. 50 breaststroke at the Olympic Games? I will race until I’m 40”

Working hard and learning from the defeat. Fabio Scozzoli, born in ’88, has still an incredible win to compete, and in these days of “semi-normality”, he is working to find the perfect stroke after the pandemic changed his plans and forced him to push for at least one more year. Tokyo Olympics is the primary goal, and for a 32-year-old athlete, it is not easy to mentally deal with all this situation and to put things into perspective.

Fabio, however, is sure about his plan, his intention is to continue on the path that made him improve his times on the 100 m breaststroke, pushed by the internal competition with Nicolò Martinenghi and Federico Poggio, that helped him keep his motivation. The 100 m breaststroke event is living a brilliant moment on the international sphere not with the British Adam Peaty who pushed the world record to unthinkable times, but also with a high number of swimmers who regularly swim in 58 seconds, a time that represents excellence in this race.

Scozzoli, who won two bronze medals in both 50 m and 100 m breaststroke at the Short course swimming European Championships in Glasgow, is ready to fight: “I have great motivation during training, I push at 100 per cent although there aren’t any big competitions in the near future,” the words of the Italian swimmer during the interview with OA Sport (in collaboration with Sport2U) during the episode of Swim2U. Not an easy situation, the pandemic forced all the swimmers to review their programmes. Now, maybe, the only competition swimmers can participate in 2020 is the Trofeo Settecolli (7hills trophy). “Our physical conditions, thinking about the race in Rome, won’t be the best, but it will be great to go back competing anyway, even only to feel some normality back.”

Talking about the opponents, obviously, Martinenghi who set the new national record of the 100 m breaststroke in 58″75, and Poggio who pushes at the back of Scozzoli, are great motivations. “I train every day with Poggio, and I will be competing against him to qualify to Tokyo. When we were in Tenerife, before the lockdown, I trained with Martinenghi. These are all details that allow me to improve.” For Fabio, before swimming the qualifying time, the primary goal will be to find a perfect physical condition: “I always have some minor issue, I’m looking for a 100 per cent physical condition. I know the path that allowed me to get results and to get my best times, and I’m looking to keep pushing my limits at 32 years old. I want to do my best for the 100 m breaststroke in Tokyo.”

And what if they will approve the 50 m breaststroke for Paris 2024? “I will swim until I’m 40 (laughs). In that case, I’m sure so many will specialise on that event, and I could think to work specifically for that distance.” In the end, a consideration on the growth of the entire Italian swimming movement, remembering the results of the teams at the World Championships in Gwangju (South Korea) 2019: “The team is growing with the many young athletes who are showing interesting performances and the veterans (including myself) who are still very competitive. The team is solid, and the team dynamics work well, giving confidence to the individual athlete.”

Let’s go soon into the details, as we know this season will be very peculiar, with the pandemic that delayed the preparation for Tokyo, the postponement of the Olympics. For you, I believe the Olympics will be special as you were born in 1988, the age is something you need to consider for your preparation, how are you dealing with this situation?

“Without any doubt, for those who are over 30 years old like me, the postponement of the Olympics to next year it’s not great. But, I’m living this situation as I would experience any situation. I think I am in a condition where although there isn’t any important competition in the near future, I am very motivated during training sessions, I’m training because I like it, I’m living day-by-day without pressure, and I’m trying to do my best every day even though we are not preparing for any big competition.”

We love to hear that because it means that in this time you still trained and kept your physical condition. What type of training are you doing right now and what will be your condition at the only competition of this summer, the Settecolli (7hills)?

“We have not been the first ones to swim after lockdown, but we have been among the first groups (they started training in the pool again mid-May). Although we could not swim during the lockdown, Martina and I have trained a lot at home; we organised a little gym in the garage, even now we are training there because the gym we have at the swimming pool, with the rules that are in place now for Covid-19, it would be very complicated. Therefore during the lockdown, we kept training, and we maintained a decent shape. Obviously, swimming is a different feeling than lifting weights. For me, it took a while to swim again a breaststroke that feels mine and feels comfortable. For an athlete like Martina, after a week, she was already flying in the water. And the difficulties arrived gradually with time. At the moment, we are not that fast, but it is also due to the heavy training that we have been doing. Although we are only doing one training session per day, for us sprinters, even doing one more substantial training session instead of two, it’s very challenging. Therefore, our physical conditions are uncertain, we not slow, but we are not as fast as we were last year for the World championships. I believe that in Rome if we are doing the Settecolli because it is still uncertain, we can do decent races but definitely won’t be doing our personal bests.”

Italy already qualified one athlete for Tokyo 2021 in the men 100 m breaststroke, Nicolò Martinenghi, who in that occasion also set the new national record in 58″75. A speciality rich of talented swimmers, at the international level. Recently, Kamminga (Netherlands) swam around 58″6, which is a great time considering the situation.  A time from Kamminga that left everyone surprised. Surely, the event is full of talents, and it is very competitive, so it’s not easy to excel in this one. Kamminga, though, is also a particular athlete as he is very fast even in the 200 m breaststroke, as we could see in Glasgow where he monopolised every distance of breaststroke. The Italian sector of breaststroke is in good shape too, as we have Fabio Scozzoli. We also have Nicolò Martinenghi and Federico Poggio, who set a very interesting time back in December. Poggio is an athlete to take into consideration. He improved a lot. The Italian breaststroke is a virtuous circle and is benefitting from these athletes who are pushing each other to overcome their limits. Among the women, it is the same situation with the three fastest athletes who are pushing each other. Among the men, besides Scozzoli, Martinenghi and Poggio, more will come out and improve, not in time for Tokyo maybe, but for the future.

Fabio Scozzoli almost qualified for the World Championships in Rome in 2009, that was a critical moment for him. Then in Pescara, he got his first international significant result with the bronze medal in the 4×100 medley relay, and from there it’s been a constant growth. In 2010 he got two medals at the European Championships and in 2011 he got two medals at the World Championships. And from there, a career that also faced a substantial setback starting from that 7th place at the London Olympics. He has a constant memory of that final with his Olympic rings tattoo on his chest where he put the time of the final he lost. However, Fabio did an amazing job to find himself again after that Olympics and the injury, that brought him to get incredible results, especially at in the short course.

I wanted to ask you about the status of the Italian breaststroke movement, and how the results of Nicolò Martinenghi can motivate you and other swimmers to push even harder.

“Obviously, the competition within the team is the biggest motivation to improve. I live this competition every day in training because Federico Poggio who is, let’s say, the third-best breaststroke swimmer in Italy, we train together, and he was my main opponent in March to get the Olympic qualification. Therefore, it is a continuous motivation. I also trained with Martinenghi in Tenerife before the lockdown; it is a strong motivation to train with them. If I were the fastest by one second, all by myself, probably I wouldn’t have the same motivation. I remember my first years at a high level, 2010/2011, I always had strong opponents within the Italian team; at first, there was Terrin, then Pesce, then Toniato. It was never easy to win the Italian Championships. Besides, I’ve never been at my best in March or April (when the Italian Championships usually take place), in the end, if I look at my medal record, I don’t have that many Italian titles, but this was also a great motivation.”

We were all expecting Nicolò Martinenghi as he had been one of the best at the youth level, while the significant improvement of Federico Poggio is also because he is training with you.

“Federico and I were training very well and very hard to get the qualification in March, and now everything is postponed by one year. I always think that I need to beat him during training all the time, because I believe if I beat him every day in practice, then I will be able to beat him even during competition. In December, I was expecting Poggio to be faster than me as he had trained more while I had been competing in the ISL and the European Championships, all in short course, and therefore I wasn’t as fast in the long one. Anyway, he trains well, and he is suffering this period a little bit more, maybe it is the lack of motivation or competitions, but I am sure that he will be ready when it matters.”

The battle in the 100 m breaststroke is not only within Italy, but it is also at the international level as, in this event, there are plenty of talented and fast swimmers. There are a lot of opponents, not only Peaty but also Kamminga and many others. Recently, Kamminga (Netherlands) swam around 58″6, which is a great time considering the situation. I imagine this is another stimulus for you to improve even more in this event.

“Of course. Looking at all of them swimming 58″, you think that your 59″ is not enough, and in fact, it is true. So obviously, you want to push your limit and improve. The reference points I have are the times I swim during training and the comparison to Federico. I know the path and the types of training that allowed me to swim my personal bests in the past, and I know what I need to do to improve, and it is exactly what I am trying to do. I enjoy what I do, and I know everyone just focuses on the battle between Poggio and me at any competition, but it would be fun to have a show to see all our daily races between each other.”

If you call us, we would come with a camera and film you guys. In this moment, what do you need to go faster and beat that 59 seconds wall? What is necessary for you to do that?

“The thing I miss at this moment to reach that goal is physical stability because there is always some minor issue, for example, it’s been three months that my knee hurts and I can’t do squats very well when I am in the gym. So right now, I am looking for a physical condition that allows me to always be at 100 per cent during training because I believe I still manage to deal with any minor issue, but I need to be in a perfect condition to improve. I repeat I know the path that allowed me to swim my personal best when I was 30, and I am following the same one. I try to push at my limits every day, whether in the swimming pool or the gym, and I believe that it will allow me to improve again.”

What are the things Fabio Scozzoli needs to focus on to get past the 59 seconds barrier?

“I have some weaknesses. I need to keep the frequency and efficiency of the stroke in the second 50 meters because that is what I don’t have right now. It used to be my strength at the beginning of my career, and I was always brilliant in the last 15-20 meters. But with the passing of time and changing of training, I am faster and more explosive, which for me are the characteristics I need to use as a base to build the race. It’s easier to improve your strengths than your weaknesses, but I need to work on both. This year, we worked a lot to develop my come back in the 100 meters. Unfortunately, we could not see if what were the results as everything stopped for the pandemic, and there weren’t any competitions. At this moment, though, after two months of not swimming at all, the priorities are different. It’s important to swim specific times regularly during training, and then going back to our standards. We are all happy about the competition in Rome so we can test ourselves and see at what stage of the preparation we are.”

Last year, you competed a lot in the first half of the season. Is that the new swimming frontier? Was it just an experiment for you? Will you do it again?

“Competing every weekend will be the new frontier for swimming. We need to understand that if swimming must become, and we all want to become, a sport with a bigger appeal and attraction, we need to compete more often. If you only compete for two or three times per year, people will watch swimming two or three times per year. If you compete 15 times, people will watch you 15 times. The creation of the International Swimming League is an opportunity for everyone, but the problem is that a lot of people are opposing to it and not only in Italy. They don’t understand that this league will help the growth of the entire sport. It is not easy to start this new path without leaving the old way of doing things, and I am talking about coordinating all the meeting that the sporting clubs, the federation organise besides the ISL. I am speaking as a neutral person now; I am not supporting only ISL, or only the Italian Federation or only the International federation. I am supporting swimming as a sport. And I hope all the people involved can find some agreements so that we can compete more often at a high level without damaging anyone, and without organising more than one event at the same time so that we can swim in all the competitions.”

In the past, we used to say that competing in international events it was good training for the athletes to get used to that level. Therefore, the ISL or FINA competition, could be used as a training for the athletes to get uses to some kind of international competition and to get international experience, also from a mental point of view?

“Of course, I am among those who sponsor more this way of training and living sports. I think that this path is especially important and beneficial for sprinters. In Italy, in this aspect, we are a little behind. We believe that you need to train perfectly for 12 weeks, but this is not the only way of doing it, this works but also competing more often works and helps you with the training. It helps because you are always competing with the bests in the world; because you are always putting the maximum effort in a race. And this can allow to a better growth not only from a mental point of view but also from a physical one.”

I want you to send a message to those who cannot go to training right now because they had an injury or a physical problem that stopped them. You lived three very complicated years, and we now have the chance to send them a message of hope because you came back, I do not want to say stronger than before, but at least as strong as you were before the injury.

“It is possible to come back, you need to believe in this possibility, and you cannot give up, because there are moments in which your efforts are great, but you don’t see the results. But you need to persevere as that is the only way to reach your goal. I never gave up, and as of today, I keep believing in that possibility. Sports is not only doing what you do best until you see the results and then to retire, one of the most important lessons sports teach is never to give up.”

We have read in the past days that FINA is trying to do everything possible to add the 50 m breaststroke for the Olympics of Paris 2024. Could that be the right motivation to make you push until 2024?

“I made a promise. I said if FINA adds the 50 m breaststroke event to the Olympics, I will swim and compete until I am 40 (laughs). If they add that to the Olympic programme, the age of retirement will go up (laughs).”

We will move to the Master’s category. If they include the 50 m, Cameron van der Burgh will come back from retirement.

“Absolutely, that is a possibility (laughs).”

At the moment, the 50 m event is the one in which you perform better.

“Yes, I could do better if my training would focus only on that, but as I said, until Tokyo, I want to perform at my best in the 100 m event. But I am sure that, at the moment my training will focus only on the 50 m, the improvement will be bigger. I never only focused on the shorter distance, it was always a consequence of my preparation for the 100 m, and a result of my physical characteristics.”

If we base the reflection on the results that Italy got at the last World Championships, the Italian movement is healthy and is living a good moment. It seems that Italian swimmers have finally acquired that mentality that gives them confidence and does not allow them to feel inadequate to race at international competition. Is this the reflection of a different mental approach than the previous years?

“I believe that there has been a gradual growth. From the national teams in which only a few athletes would get a medal, and the others would barely reach a final, to better performances at European level. From less brilliant world championships to the Rio Olympics where, yes Italy got some medals, but the base of the movement was not as strong. The team as improved as we had great swimmers at the youth level, which does not happen every year in Italy, and experienced athletes who are still competitive in the international sphere. The team is more reliable, swimming is an individual sport, but having the feeling of being part of a stronger team gives you confidence. Therefore, when you are at the World Championships, and you know that you are not the only one to get to the final and your teammates instead of being a little jealous of that, they are supporting you, it makes a difference. Daily, I believe that until a few years ago, Italian swimmers would feel accomplished when they won the Italian Championships, or when they would do the qualifying time to go to the World Championships or the Olympics. Now the mentality has changed, thanks to the results of the leading swimmers. There is more will to get to the most important competition of the season in the best possible condition. I have always done that because I’ve been taught this. I believe that this message has reached the younger ones as well.”

When we watch swimming on TV, we often hear comments saying “breaststroke has changed a lot from 10 years ago”. For those who don’t know, what do we need to look to see what has changed from the past?

“Something everyone can pay attention to is the frequency of the stroke. Look at the 100 m breaststroke of Kitajima in 2004 who has a rate of 1″2 per stroke to Peaty today who has a frequency of 1 second. That means that this stroke is 0.2 seconds faster per stroke. It doesn’t mean that with a higher rate you will be faster, but you will need to train for many years to make sure that the higher number of strokes is as efficient as when the frequency is lower.”

[sc name=”banner-article”]

Clicca qui per seguire OA Sport su Instagram

Clicca qui per mettere “Mi piace” alla nostra pagina Facebook

Clicca qui per iscriverti al nostro gruppo

Clicca qui per seguirci su Twitter

Photo Credit: LaPresse