Water polo player Melania Grego achieved her greatest successes with Orizzonte Catania, where she won six League titles and four European Cups. She also won the gold medal with the national team at the 2004 Athens Olympics, playing a significant role in the final against the Greek hosts, when she scored the winning goal in the second period of overtime which saw Italy win 10-9. Prior to the final, due to a shoulder injury, Grego had only played a handful of minutes in the entire Olympic competition.
Grego also won two world titles with the national team, at Perth in 1998 and Fukuoka in 2001. After retiring from competitive water polo, she coached the youth teams of Acquatic Caserta in 2010 and, since 2014, those of Volturno and Circolo Villani, where she won promotion to Serie A2 in 2025. Grego received the Collare d’Oro for Sporting Merit from the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) in 1998.
Italy