“At first I thought it was a fight, but when I saw it I understood everything”: the former Italian champion saves the life of a 12-year-old boy: the moving story

He notices a boy in trouble in the water and dives into the Adda to save him: the heroic gesture of Federico Vanelli

It’s a story with a fortunately happy ending that Federico Vanelliformer Italian swimming athlete and finalist at the Rio Olympics in 2016, found himself living firsthand and telling. Last Saturday, July 20, while he was with a friend on the banks of the Adda River, he noticed that a boy in the water was in trouble and that the current was dragging him to the bottom. Without thinking for a moment, the former champion dived in and saved him.

A quiet Saturday afternoon at the river could have turned into a tragedy for a family and a 12-year-old boy from Sant’Angelo Lodigiano. They were on the banks of the Adda Rivernear Boffalora D’Adda, and the little one evidently decided to seek some relief in the water.

There current it was though Too strongthe boy could no longer maintain control and sank. On the other side of the river, fortunately, there was the most suitable person there could be to perform a truly heroic act.

Federico Vanelli, former Italian swimming athletea finalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics and one of the world’s leading experts in open-water swimming, immediately realized something was happening. He said he saw the people shaking and screaming. Then, when he saw the 12-year-old emerge and then sink again, he understood everything.

Federico Vanelli’s Cold Blood

Federico said he saw a I rent and thought that someone could take a boat to go and save the little boy, but that was not the case. Then he saw a kayakbut he quickly realized that it would be useless, because the current was too strong.

The former champion’s experience and cool head then helped him make another choice that proved to be crucial to the success of the rescue. Jumping and swimming toward him against the current, Vanelli explained, would have been impossible and useless.

So he decided to reach out a point where the current would have dragged the 12-year-old and so, indeed, it was. After taking it, the two together managed to reach the shore where they then awaited rescue.

The boy never lost consciousness. He was transported to Maggiore Hospital in Lodi for tests, but on Saturday he will only have a bad memory left. His young life would probably have ended, if fate had not wanted that a few meters away from him there was a champion with a heart of gold.