Federico Bicelli

Started: He began swimming at age five in Brescia, Italy. He took up the sport seriously in 2009, and was first included in the national youth team at age 14. (brescia.corriere.it, 16 Apr 2021; Athlete, 09 Sep 2019; Athlete, 06 Sep 2024) Reason: When he was a child, doctors advised him to swim. He began competing after a medical specialist introduced him to the Polisportiva Bresciana No Frontiere club. "She put me in touch with them, and then I switched to daily training." (brescia.corriere.it, 16 Apr 2021; fitadvisor.it, 01 Aug 2019) Ambition: To compete at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. (Athlete, 06 Sep 2024) Awards: In 2021 he was presented with the Vittoria Alata di Brescia award by the municipality of Brescia in Italy. (Comune di Brescia Facebook page, 02 Dec 2021) In 2018 he received the Leonessa Award from the municipality of Brescia in Italy for his sporting achievements. (polisportivanofrontiere.com, 20 Feb 2018) In 2017 he received the Golden Hamlet award from the municipality of Borgosatollo in Italy. (Facebook profile, 29 Nov 2017) Additional Info: TATTOO He has a tattoo of a shark on one of his arms. "As a child sharks were one of the animals I feared the most, until one day I decided to get a shark tattoo to defeat my own fear and start being the best 'predator' in the pool, just like the shark is in the sea." (fitadvisor.it, 12 Aug 2021; brescia.corriere.it, 16 Apr 2021; federicobicelli.com, 01 Jan 2020)