Federico Burdisso Claims Olympic Glory

Northwestern's very own student athlete, Federico Burdisso, wins Olympic bronze.

Federico Burdisso won his first Olympic medal, finishing third in the Men's 200-Meter Butterfly final with a time of 1:54.45. Burdisso will proudly be taking the bronze medal back home to his country of Italy. Burdisso is the first student-athlete to medal at the Olympics while enrolled at NU since Nancy Simons did so at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, claiming silver in the Women's 4x100-Meter Freestyle.

After a great preliminary swim for Burdisso (1:55.14), the Northwestern Wildcat qualified for the Men's 200-Meter Butterfly final after placing fourth in the semi-final's with a time of 1:55.11. 

Burdisso then saved his best for last (1:54.45), beating out Hungarian's Tamas Kenderesi (1:54.52) by just a fingernail, to finished third and claim his first Olympic medal.

He’ll answer to a few names:

- Federico 🏊‍♂️
- Olympian 🇮🇹
- Medalist 🥉#CatsInTokyo | @NUSwimDive pic.twitter.com/PGST8fA7RX

— Northwestern Athletics (@NU_Sports) July 28, 2021

However, Burdisso wasn't done collecting medals. He claimed another bronze medal in the Men's 4 x 100-Meter Medley Relay Final as part of Team Italy, with a time of 3:29.17, placing behind USA (gold) and France (silver). This gives Burdisso two bronze medals total at this year's Olympic Games, making it one of the most successful Wildcat appearances of all time in the Olympics.

Adding to the medal collection 🥉🏊‍♂️@ItaliaTeam_it and Federico Burdisso place third in the 400 medley relay 🇮🇹#CatsInTokyo | @NUSwimDive pic.twitter.com/OcmxdU9Ltm

— Northwestern Athletics (@NU_Sports) August 1, 2021

Burdisso was the only current Northwestern student-athlete that participated in this year's games. Burdisso represented his home country of Italy (a Pavia native). As a freshman on Northwestern men's swimming team in 2019-20, Burdisso set school records in the 200 fly and 200 free. Not only did Burdisso claim Wildcat records, he is also the Italian record holder for the 200 fly, with a time of 1:51.98.

The rising NU junior, who is only 19 years old, has only just begun to scratch the surface of the athlete he can become. Get ready Wildcat fans, Federico Burdisso is just get starting.

A great swim from #ITA's Federico Burdisso earns bronze in the men's 200m butterfly.

@fina1908 #Swimming @coninews pic.twitter.com/m1jwEbIhXA

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 28, 2021

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