Renato Bacigalupo

A top swimmer in the 1920s, Renato Bacigalupo never reached the level of his brother Luigi (1894-1964), who was a superb distance swimmer and later coached Renato. Renato won four Italian titles in 400 m freestyle between 1924-28 and three over 1,500 m between 1919-26. He also briefly held the Italian record for 400 free with a time of 5:27.2.

At only 16-years-old Bacigalupo competed at the Paris Olympics and then appeared at the 1926 Budapest European Championships, where he placed fifth in the 4x200 free relay. In 1927 the Europeans were held in Bologna and Bacigalupo made the finals of the 400 freestyle and the 4x200 free relay, placing fifth and fourth, respectively. In 1930 and 1933 he swam at the University Games where, in total, he won three silver medals and one bronze.