Delfina Pignatiello retires from swimming at the age of 22

Delfina Pignatiello rushed to swim with the force of a wave. The hope of an elite Argentine swimmer was printed on her forehead and her three gold medals at the Pan American Games in Lima, which added to those two silver medals from her consecrated Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires l previous year, they confirmed. However, a pandemic that caused her to swim in her home pool, unfair criticism of Tokyo 2020 last year, and new illusions in between caused an unexpected reaction for those outside her inner circle: her withdrawal at 22. years.

The San Isidro swimmer surprised locals and strangers this Friday by announcing it abandon high-performance sport. She did so through a public letter he posted on her Instagram account.

“I’d like to tell you A few months ago I made the decision to abandon high performance and competition“surprised by a long post.

And he continued: “I bought a camera and embarked on an artistic path that I am exploring with great curiosity, desire to learn and continue to grow. Sport is part of my life elsewhere, I continue to swim and stay in water will always continue to be my place in the world.

The young woman had emerged strongly as a junior world champion and had shone in the Youth Olympic Games Which took place in Buenos Aires 2018 with two silver medals. Already competing among the adults, she won three golds at the Pan American Games in Lima 2019, but had a bad experience at Tokyo 2020 Olympicswhich took place last year where he was far from his best grades and started suffering from attacks haters on social media, who believed (without having an idea of ​​what this competition entails) that she should also have won a medal for what she did in Lima and which led her to temporarily withdraw from competitions.

Photography, the new passion

When 2021 ended, Pignatiello posted on his Instagram the best moments of the year, including the Olympics, and assured: “I broke the barrier of frustrated sleep and was encouraged to buy a camera”.

And since he insisted that dreams must be fulfilled, so he did. Last March, she posted eight images on her official Instagram account of her as a professional photographer for Lollapalooza, an event that took place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In the publication, he noted: “The last photo is from February 24, when they confirmed that I was a photographer for Lollapalooza Argentina. The rest was a roller coaster of sensations and beautiful people. You can see my work on @soulisfilms.”

Eager to devote himself to this new passion, on his photography page, he published his work done on the occasion of the great event held in Buenos Aires. Right there you can see pictures of the big stars like Duki, Nicki Nicole, Tiago PZK, Louta, Toto Ferro, Alessia Cara, Wos, Yesan and the Babasónicos group.

Now, in the post that confirmed his goodbye to swimming, he confirmed that the path he started will be the one he will continue to take. “Sport is part of my life elsewhere, I keep swimming and being in the water will always be my place in the world. I bought a camera and embarked on an artistic path that I am exploring with great curiosity, a desire to learn and continue to grow.. She makes me very happy and makes me dream again, “she explained.

“Thanks to those who accompanied me up to here and to those who choose to continue to do so. I have always encouraged you to pursue your dreams. Today I add: he also dares to kick the boards and start a new game. Always choose your path with the heart, with love, courage and dedication. I hope they become the child they always wanted to be, “he said goodbye.

signs

In December of last year, Pignatiello had opened in a TED talk, deciding to expose his darkest moments in the world of professional sport and describing in detail his experience by connecting social networks with his fame, his brands and the Olympics of Tokyo 2020.

The San Sebastián athlete recounted the criticisms she suffered and which made her change her life 180 degrees, preserving her mental health: “After 9,000 hours of training, hundreds of races and several gold medals, I touch the wall in Tokyo 2020 and I realize that I didn’t have the time I wanted, nor did I end up in the position I dreamed of, the only thing I think about at that moment is what they were about to tell me on social media. How was it possible that what mattered most to me was the appearance of people I didn’t even know?“.

And he added: “There I recorded how far my visibility had gone and the comfort with which people and the media thought about me, what I did or didn’t do, my dreams and goals that took them as them and I am a slave to them. Do you know how heavy it is to see your name in the headlines for months promising a medal?“.

In the last Olympic Games one of the problems that emerged was the mental health of the athletes and in this sense Pignatiello explained: “Something happened in Tokyo 2020. They started to raise their voices and talk about hidden issues at that moment and break that taboo that we were invariably superheroes. You can imagine how significant it was to me that Simone Biles, face of the Olympics, talks about the pressure in competition. There I learned the importance of having a strong head and being comfortable with one of myself in order to be well with others. I think that’s where I started to heal. “

In relation to the popularity the swimmer was gaining over the course of her career, she said: “The first touches with fame were fun and I could control them, I also realized that I could motivate other people. But like everything, there is a side to it. B. and all that energy and adrenaline that we teenagers feel growing up, in my case it became a tsunami of looks and there came a point where there was no way to control it while I was drowning “.

Regarding her experience at the Games, she detailed: “When I finally achieved my dream, an Olympic game, I ended up immersed in a war on social networks where they attacked me without impunity behind an internet profile, where they even said ‘shit failure ‘and the worst thing is that I believed it. “

“I learned on my own, face to face, how to take notes, what to say or not to say on social networks and how to deal with a wave of hatred. Understanding that social networks were an artificial topic and then in real life. things didn’t happen or I didn’t have those attacks, I had to learn to live with the pressures and expectations of others “, added Pignatiello.

Finally, he concluded with a reflection: “I think what happened to me is not inevitable. I think there are possibilities to create better ways of containment with professionals from different fields to help take care of the person behind the high performance of the athlete. It’s a matter of looking at where you really have to do it and that’s what I’m trying to do, seeing Delphi as a person and not just as an athlete, being able to value both, realizing that when I step into the water and continue the black line of the pool obviously I have to swim as best I can but when that last wall comes close and I put my head out of the water, all I have to watch is my family, my friends, my grandmother and the little boy from Delphi who just wants to play. “