Martina Dememme

Martina de Memme is an Italian swimmer and Olympian. She was part of the Italian 4x200m relay team at the 2016 Rio Olympics but has found the majority of her success as a solo swimmer. She has won several medals at international level, including the European Aquatics Championships, University World Games, and Mediterranean Games.

De Memme was born in 1991 in Livorno, a port city on the west coast of Tuscany. She has swum for Nuoto Livorno, a swimming club in her hometown and Centro Sportivo Esercito, the Italian army’s sports team). Her husband, Italian swimming coach Fabrizio Antonelli who trains, among others, Italian Olympic medallist and open water swimming champion Rachele Bruni. De Memme’s medal haul began at the 2007 European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgium, where she helped the Italian 4x200m relay team to bronze. Her greatest senior success to date came at the 2013 Mediterranean Games, where she won four gold medals, in the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle, and 4x200m relay. De Memme had the honour of being her country’s flag bearer at the 2015 University World Games in South Korea, the world’s second-largest multi-sports competition behind the Olympics. She took home another medal, this time a bronze for the 200m freestyle. In 2015, she was part of the 4x200m relay team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, although they missed out on the finals.

Since then, De Memme has switched to open water swimming and participated in numerous events at the FINA Marathon World Series, achieving consistently high places in one of the world’s toughest swimming tournaments.