2024 Olympic athletes from Florence

Florence-born Caterina Banchelli is the goalkeeper of Italy’s women’s water polo team. She left lane swimming to devote herself to athletics, but she felt the pull of the pool again in middle school. Her brother, at that time a player for RN Florentia, convinced her to try water polo. In a few years she became the backbone of the senior national team, with which she won a European and a world bronze.

Born in Bagno a Ripoli, just 19, Matilde Biagiotti developed her swimming sprinting skills with RN Florentia. At the junior level, she amassed numerous medals, especially in the 4×100-metre relay, winning gold twice consecutively at the European Junior Championships in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, she also claimed a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Peru. In June 2024, she was one of the youngest faces of the Italian team at the 60th edition of the Settecolli in Rome, where she earned her ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

Born in Florence in 2001, Andrea Cosi is making his Olympic debut in the 20km race walk. The seventh fastest Italian of all time in his discipline, he won a silver medal in the 2024 Under-23 European Championships. 

Florentine Leonardo Deplano is a pure sprinter. In 2017 he became European junior champion by triumphing in the 50 metres freestyle. As a senior, he won three European medals in Budapest 2021 and Rome 2022. In March 2024, he shone at the spring Open Championships in Riccione, where he secured a pass for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in both the 50 and 100 freestyle, as well as securing a place in the fast relay. 

From Bagno a Ripoli, Leonardo Fabbri has athletics in his blood. His father Fabio is a former sprinter who introduced him to the track at the age of six. After experimenting with various disciplines, his imposing stature steered him towards the throwing events. Despite having excellent credentials in the discus, his career developed in the direction of the shot put, reaching his peak in 2023, when he won the Golden Gala in Florence and won silver at the World Championships in Budapest. In 2024, thanks to a throw of 22.95m at the Savona meeting, he set a new Italian record, surpassing Alessandro Andrei’s 1987 mark of 22.91m. In June, he won the gold medal at the European Championships in Rome with 22.45m.

Born in Florence, Giulia Gabbrielleschi will be battling it out in the 10km marathon swimming event. Also a keen SUP and surfer, she recently took home the bronze medal at the 2024 European Championships in Belgrade. Over the course of her career, she has won three World silvers, three World silvers, a European gold, three European silvers and two European bronzes.

Larissa Iapichino (athletics)

Larissa Iapichino needs little introduction as the daughter of Fiona May, two-time Olympic silver medallist in the long jump, and Gianni Iapichino, her current coach and former Italian pole vault record holder. After eight years dedicated to dance, swimming and artistic gymnastics, in 2015 she decided to concentrate on athletics: first in sprints, then in hurdles and finally, starting in 2020, solely and exclusively in the long jump pit. At the Savona meeting, she landed at 6.80m, the second-best Italian ever. A year later in Ancona, she grew further with a mark of 6.91m, the world U20 indoor record, equalling her mother’s national outright indoor record. In 2023, she improved again with the Italian indoor record of 6.97m, after having equalled it again in Istanbul for the indoor European silver medal. Outdoors, she debuted with a personal best of 6.83m and won three Diamond League meets, achieving 6.95m after having won the title at the European U23 Championships in Espoo with 6.93m. In June 2024, she won the European silver medal in Rome with 6.94m.

Born in Chianti, Filippo Megli was a football player before he got into swimming. In 2015, he had his first call-up with the national team. Over the years, he became a specialist in the 200 freestyle and remains an indispensable part of the Italian relay team, with which he has repeatedly made the podium at a European level.

At Rio 2016, Gabriele Rossetti won the gold medal in skeet shooting, obtaining the second Olympic medal in his family 24 years after his father Bruno’s bronze at Barcelona 1992. After winning everything at the junior level, he immediately managed to impose himself among the seniors as well, winning the world title (Moscow 2017) and the European title (Croatia 2021).

Born in Bagno a Ripoli, this isn’t Claudio Michel Stecchi’s first Olympic experience in his discipline of the pole vault. He also competed in the Tokyo games, finishing 29th.

From Lastra a Signa, Ginevra Taddeucci began swimming at nine years old in the same pool that her cousin attended. Early on, she distinguished herself with a strong sense of teamwork. Although her sport is primarily individual, she particularly enjoys relay races. Over time, she gravitated towards open water and long-distance events, where she could fully express her innate endurance abilities. Her crowning achievement is the silver medal she won in the 10km race at the 2022 European Championships in Rome. A consistent performer in both the LEN Cup and the World Cup, Taddeucci makes her Olympic debut at Paris 2024.

Lorenzo Zazzeri was first called up for the Eurojuniors in 2012, and in 2017 he won silver at the Universiade with the 4×100 freestyle relay. In 2018, he was summoned again to the European Championships in Glasgow, where he earned his first senior podium in the relay. At Tokyo 2020 he won his first Olympic silver medal, in Paris he will try to do better.