Since the 2009 FINA World Championships, Federica Pellegrini, is tracking almost as high as Angelina Jolie in Google searches in most Italian regions. In some cities, such as Naples, she is tracking equal or higher. Jennifer Aniston can't touch either of them. [Google trends is my source]The First photo is Federica Pellegrini at the Venice Film Festival with her friend Luca Marin.
Photo source: M&C.com: [Link]
In the next photo and to the left is the current Italian President, Silvio Berlusconi, making an ass of himself overly "eyeballing" Federica Pellegrini as he greeted her at a gathering of "young supporters in Rome." The guy is actually well liked in Italy despite scandal and a challenged economy.
I swear, I think 80% of politics is making up a good story.
From Metro.co.uk:
Silvio Berlusconi just can't help himself, can he? Most politicians mired in a sex scandal might keep a low profile and not give the enemy any further ammunition. But not the Italian prime minister, who is never far away from trouble when it comes to women.
[Link]
These two photos presented certainly demonstrate how much power and prestige swimming has in the Italian universe. The French and the Australians are treated in this fashion as well. I suggest American pros spend more time racing where they are appreciated and learning the languages where they are admired as well.
Imagine, Jason Lezak, trash talking Alain Bernard, Amauary Leveaux, Frederick Bousquet, and Fabien Gilot in French and challenging them to a pay-for-view meet with all the strokes on neutral ground at the Montreal Olympic Pool in French Canada? The French would be all over it like an Italian President on a "party goer!"
I could dip my keyboard in poison and be Lezak's writer; of course Maly would have to help me translate and obviously I would not mean any of it...
I kid you not. This is the stuff American swimming needs.
10 comments:
Beth Ditto (no, I don't like her) said the other day that she likes the UK because it's "easy" to become famous there - maybe that's the case with the less huge nations. Throw in personalities and attractive people (I notice you have a Fede crush).
It took a British tabloid to splash out Phelps's scandalising behaviour in public. I noticed that a lot of Americans disapproved - I think they admire hard work and keeping your image clean more rather than being more okay with the 'work hard, play hard' ethos.
Berlusconi is a good example - Italians like him still, while the likes of Clinton, an otherwise popular president gets impeached for it.
You should have warned me, I just looked up who Beth Ditto was!
She is way harder to look at than a Russian tennis phenom or an Italian/French swimmer for that matter.
I don't have a crush on Pelegrini... I simply like popular female swimmers that rock the Zeitgeist because that is the gender that will make swimming global.
As for American politics - We really are 50 separate countries rather than 50 United States.
Though California votes the same way as New York, we are a very different culture. Don't get me started on the south.
California had a different point of view than Kentucky, Virginia, Texas, and several other southern states.
The south wields a lot of power in the US and California despises that.
We were thrilled when it was our state or coastline that picked the new President.
Ha, I am sorry for that!! Yeah but she is a personality who doesn't 'behave well'.. like how that trashtalking those guys do isn't 'behaving well' (Ditto isn't attractive, no, unless you like fat).
I was teasing about the crush. Pellegrini has tattoos your mother would kill you for getting and was implicated in the Manaudou photos and ‘man-stealing’ scandal.
To be honest, one of the things I admire about the US is how they have managed to keep their states unified and have a strong sense of being 'American' amongst them all. But yeah, individual achievements may be watered down because of that.. but on the other hand, you have a dominant team. Can't have it both ways, in a way, unless you persuade Jason Lezak (honestly, he seems very bland to me.. I can barely remember what he is like) to have you as his spin doctor.. :p
I should qualify - possibly 'watered down' in terms of national consciousness and fame with the exception of Phelps.. who is just outstandingly awesome. I love the guy. And maybe Dara Torres, who seems to have appeared on a lot of national shows like Letterman. Dunno. You'd probably know better.
The most search for swimmers to my blog are for swimmers of the female gender. I am surprised that they are not getting paid more than the boys since their are more girls swimming in the US than boys.
Dara was HUGE for the club I belog to: SCAQ - Phelps helped too but DARA filled the pools.
If Europe can agree on a Constitution, you guys will be the United States 2.0. the problem is that you can't go more than 50-years without a war. (Yugoslavia being the last one.)
You could always use ours. It's sketchy but it's only 13-pages and will work for a few hundred years. ;-)
I know. I am a fan of the women swimmers primarily. I like to support them more than the males although I have got into the male side, too (the French sprinters, Phelps and Cavic make it easy).
I read Dara Torres on Twitter because she makes me laugh and manages to be interesting. She has charisma. I will just suspend my belief about her body and uh, endoctrinologist bf.
Yes, see, about the wars in Europe - we don't have that sense of unification that the US does - you would never be able to get the Balkans, Greece&Turkey to play ball. You say the states are like different countries but Europe is more so, even if there is increasing globalism - too much of a case of different languages, different histories, cultures, different flags, different governments/constitutions, etc. It's even becoming more politically correct to give countries more independence like in the case of Scotland and Wales, who have been given more powers to rule themselves in recent history& the Welsh language is no longer being banned/suppressed by England.
anyway, sorry for getting this into a gossip/political discussion!
i was saying to myself swimming is slowly getting there in france when you find news of dara torres getting an operation, bredan hansen is still taking his break from swimming , the fact that amaury leveaux is changing coach and swimclub , alain bernard had his first pratice since rome on news site that before would never post this kind of information . before only l'equipe was covering swimming .
oh more gossip from france : coralie balmy changed club tobe with her boyfriend alain bernard. alain bernard will skip the short course season this winter because he will be learning how to pilot an helicopter with the gendarmerie national , he is a member of this army force : they are used as police in the french small towns as well as in the rural areas . they also serve as the road police.
WOW, I gotta find this news and post to it. Thank you. :-D
alain bernard made an agreement with his coach at the beginning of this year that he would have a lighter training this winter in order to have more time for his helicopter lessons , since he was young he always wanted to be a pilot in the gendarmerie. the french gendarmerie payes him a salary in exchange of only swimming at the french army championship and if he has time to compete at the world army championship every 2 years , that why after rome hugues dubosq went to montreal to compete at the world army games , he is also a gendarme. at the end of their swimming carear , they have the posibility to become real gendarme if they want to. love and money is apparently are the reasons amaury left his club after 8 years to move to the lagardere club in paris . the paris club is backed up by one of france richiest man . link to amaury http://alsace.france3.fr/info/alsace/Amaury-Leveaux-quitte-Mulhouse-57239091.html
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