Former Italian swimming champion Federica Pellegrini has spoken about the criticism she received during her career, saying comments from fellow athletes were more painful than those coming from outside sport.
Speaking on Giulia Salemi’s podcast Non lo faccio x moda, the 38-year-old Pellegrini reflected on some of the more difficult relationships she had with fellow competitors.
“Criticism from outside the sporting world is easier to accept,” she said. “The ones from colleagues hurt and disappoint me much more.”
Pellegrini, one of the most successful swimmers in Italian history, said she had often wondered why criticism directed at her came predominantly from men.
Asked which former colleagues had disappointed her most, she named fencer Aldo Montano, swimmer Massimiliano Rosolino and fellow swimmer Thomas Ceccon.
“They seem to be friends on the surface, and then they turn their backs on you,” Pellegrini said. “I never managed to get used to that kind of behaviour.”
She acknowledged that she could sometimes come across as blunt, but said she preferred being honest with people.
“I may seem like a difficult person, but at least I will always be sincere with you,” she said. “It’s true, though, that you can’t be friends with everyone in this world.”
Pellegrini’s comments refer to remarks the three athletes made about her at different points in their careers.
Rosolino, who was once linked romantically with Pellegrini, previously described her as rude and as an athlete who always wanted to be on a pedestal.
Montano, meanwhile, recalled the atmosphere among Italian athletes at the London Olympics and described Pellegrini as the exception. He accused her of appearing distant and said she would sometimes walk past other Italian athletes without acknowledging them.
Ceccon, who belongs to a younger generation of Italian swimmers, made similar comments in 2024. While praising Pellegrini as an athlete he had watched and admired, he said she had never approached him personally and that he therefore kept his distance from her.
Those comments appear to have stayed with Pellegrini more than criticism from outside the sporting world.
Today, however, her priorities have shifted away from competitive swimming. Pellegrini is focused on family life with her husband and former coach Matteo Giunta and their two daughters.
Their second daughter, Rachele, was born in April, after the couple had not initially planned to have another child so soon after their first daughter, Matilde, was born in 2024.
“It was a surprise,” Pellegrini said. “We would have waited another year before having a second child, but perhaps it was better this way.”
With two young children and four dogs, she joked that the family is already close to its limits.
Motherhood has also changed the way she sees her children, she said, with each having a distinct personality from the beginning.
For now, Pellegrini has no plans to expand the family again. “My present is about being a mother, taking care of my loved ones and prioritising my family,” she said.
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