Simone Ciulli

Simone Ciulli (born 1986) is an Italian swimmer who competes in Paralympic S9 events.[1] and who has been a member of the Italian National Swim Team since 2013. In September 2019, he won a bronze medal[2] at the Paralympic World Swimming Championship in London. He has also won a silver at the Mediterranean Games of Mersin in 2013 and two bronze medals at the European Championships in Funchal in 2016.

Simone Ciulli
Personal information
Nationality Italy
Born (1986-05-09) 9 May 1986
Florence, Italy
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesS9 freestyle, butterfly
ClubC.C. Aniene
CoachFabrizio Verniani, Simone Ciulli
Medal record
Paralympic swimming
World Championships
2019 London 50 m freestyle - S9
European Championships
2016 Funchal50 m freestyle - S10
2016 Funchal4 x 100 freestyle relay 34pts
Mediterranean Games
2013 Mersin100 m freestyle

Career

Since birth, Ciulli has suffered from both a mild case cerebral palsy and from perineuroma[3] which is located on his right sciatic nerve.[1]

In 2012, he was introduced to the Paralympic organization and entering the world of Paralympic swimming by participating at the Italian Paralympic Swimming Championships in Pietralata, with Po.Ha.Fi. team. There, he was first classified as an S10, SM10 and SB9. At that meet, he broke two Italian records in the 50 and 100 freestyle.[4]

In 2013, he was invited for the first time to join the Italian national Paralympic swimming team and competed for the red, white and green at his first international meet in Berlin.[5]

A few months later, he was invited, together with the paralympic champion Federico Morlacchi, to compete at the XVII Mediterranean Games, in Mersin Turkey, where he won the silver medal in the 100 freestyle with a time of 57 "14.[6][7]

That same year he was selected by the National Team to take part in the FINA World Cup for able-bodied swimmers in Eindhoven. There he won three gold medals in the 50 and 100 freestyle and in the 100 IM. At that same event, he competed together with able-bodied athletes from the Italian National Swimming Team including, Gregorio Paltrinieri, Fabio Scozzoli, Ilaria Bianchi and Federico Turrini.[8][9]

In August 2014 at the European Paralympic Swimming Championships in Eindhoven, he broke the Italian S10 long course national record with a time of 25"18, while placing forth in the event. In Eindhoven, he also set the Italian S10 national backstroke record in the 4x100 mixed relay with a time of 1'04"69.[10]

In 2015, he once again was invited to join the National swim team to compete in an international meet in Berlin where he established two new Italian national S10 records in the 100 freestyle with a time of 56"35 and in the 100 butterfly, with a time of 1'00"88. These times were just a few tenths of a second away for the qualifying time for 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.[11]

In 2016 at the European Championships in Funchal he won two bronze medals. One in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25"40 and the other in the 4x100 mixed relay.[12][13][14]

In 2017 at the Italian Winter Paralympic Swimming Championships held in Portici, he became the first Italian Paralympic athlete to swim the 50 freestyle under 25 seconds (24"89) and the 100 freestyle under 55 seconds (54"77), also establishing the new national short course records.[15]

At the 2019 World Series in Lignano, he was reclassified as a S9, SM9 SB8 swimmer because the tumor located on his right sciatic nerve grew and progressively hampered the functionality of his lower right leg.

In September 2019, he represented Italy at the World Paralympic Swimming Championships in London, where he won a bronze medal in the 50 freestyle with a time of 26”04 and he became World Champion with the National Team of Italy[2][16][17][18]

Extra-competitive activities

In 2011 he graduated with a master's degree in Law and subsequently, in 2015 passed the Bar exam to earn his license to practice. He has elected to not pursue his law career until he retires from competitive swimming.[10]

Concurrently in 2015, he obtain a number of state certifications to expand his expertise in swimming and water safety. His certifications include, life guard, second level triathlon trainer, water polo instructor, various fitness instructor, swim school coordinator, as well as sports and facilities management.[4]

Since 2010, he has also been the head coach Klab Nuoto Master Swim Team in Florence, Italy. He has built the program from scratch currently counts over 100 athletes: as of 2019, Klab Nuoto Masters has won six consecutive Italian Master Swimming Championships U.I.S.P.[19]

Additionally, since 2016 he has been the personal trainer of Noura Mana, who is a member of the Moroccan National Swimming Team and who participated in the Olympic Games of Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Under Ciulli's guidance, she has broken two Moroccan national records, in the 50 freestyle (25 and 50 metres). She has won a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan-African Games in Casablanca and has also participated at the World Short Course Championships in 2018 in Hangzhou.[20]

References
  1. "Simone Ciulli - Swimming | Paralympic Athlete Profile". International Paralympic Committee.
  2. "London 2019 - Schedule and Results". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  3. "tumori dei nervi | Microneurochirurgia Rovigo". www.ferraresistefano.com. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  4. "CIP Toscana". toscana.comitatoparalimpico.it. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  5. "Da Berlino con furore". TuttaFirenze (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  6. "Simone Ciulli argento storico ai Giochi del Mediterraneo 2013". www.finp.it. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  7. "Simone Ciulli - Nuoto paralimpico". Ability Channel (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  8. "Simone Ciulli al FINA World Cup 2013". finp.it. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  9. Clienti, Paco (2013-08-02). "Paralimpico: Simone Ciulli alla World Cup di Eindhoven. IPC sempre più FINA con la World Cup integrata". Swim4Life Magazine (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  10. Clienti, Paco (2014-12-01). "Simone Ciulli rilancia e punta a Mondiali e Record del Mondo dei 100 dorso". Swim4Life Magazine (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  11. "NUOTO PARALIMPICO: Risultati Meeting Internazionale di Berlino". Circolo Canottieri Aniene (in Italian). 2015-04-22. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  12. Porzio, Ciro (2016-04-12). "Simone Ciulli sogna la completa integrazione tra olimpici e paralimpici!". Swim4Life Magazine (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  13. "Funchal 2016 DAY 3 sessione pomeriggio: l'Italia del nuoto paralimpico cala il poker !". www.finp.it. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  14. "Funchal 2016 DAY 3 pomeriggio: Italian's night in Madeira, altre 7 le medaglie vinte oggi !". www.finp.it. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  15. "Nuoto, pioggia di medaglie e record ai Campionati Nazionali Assoluti Invernali". Circolo Canottieri Aniene (in Italian). 2017-04-05. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  16. "Mattarella chiama Pancalli "Bravi" - Nuoto". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 2019-09-16. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  17. "Conte elogia il nuoto paralimpico". Nuoto.com (in Italian). 2019-09-17. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  18. "Mondiali di nuoto paralimpico: l'Italia è campione del mondo". Repubblica.it (in Italian). 2019-09-16. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  19. "Tirreno Notizie: Sesta vittoria per la squadra nuoto master Klab Florence Sport". Tirreno Notizie. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  20. "Atleti". Klab Nuoto Master (in Italian). 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.