Diego Mularoni (born November 27, 1979) is a Sammarinese former swimmer, who specialized in freestyle events.[1] He is a three-time Olympian (1996, 2000, and 2004), and a current Sammarinese record holder in the 100, 200, 400, and 1500 m freestyle since 2001. He has won a total of 13 medals (six golds, five silver, and two bronze) at the Games of the Small States of Europe.
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Diego Mularoni | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National team | San Marino | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1979-11-27) 27 November 1979 (age 42) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mularoni made his official debut, as San Marino's only swimmer (aged 16), at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He failed to reach the top 16 final in the 100 m freestyle, finishing in fifty-ninth place with a time of 57.11.[2]
In 1999, Mularoni reached his breakthrough in swimming, when he earned two gold medals each in the 400 and 1500 m freestyle at the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
Mularoni also proved his strength in long-distance swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, when he decided to compete in the 1500 m freestyle, which was later dominated by host nation Australia's Grant Hackett. Swimming in heat two, he rounded out a field of six swimmers to last place and thirty-ninth overall in 16:12.91.[3]
When San Marino hosted the 2001 Games of the Small States of Europe in Serravalle, Mularoni managed to defend titles in the 400 m freestyle (3:56.73) and 1500 m freestyle (15:57.20). He also set two Sanmarinese records each to earn silver medals in the 100 m freestyle (52.83) and 200 m freestyle (1:53.70).[4]
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Mularoni was elected by the Sammarinese National Olympic Committee (Italian: Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Sammarinese), as San Marino's top swimmer, to be the flag bearer in the opening ceremony.[5][6] He qualified only for the men's 200 m freestyle by clearing a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:53.87 from GSSE in Valletta, Malta.[7] He challenged seven other swimmers in heat three, including 16-year-old Shaune Fraser of the Cayman Islands. He rounded out the field to last place by a 3.16-second margin behind winner Aleksandar Malenko of Macedonia in 1:56.18. Mularoni failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed fifty-sixth overall in the preliminaries.[8][9]