Manuel Mateo Bortuzzo

Manuel Bortuzzo

Personal information
Full name	Manuel Mateo Bortuzzo
Born	(1999-05-03) 3 May 1999 (age 26) Trieste, Italy
Sport
Country	Italy
Sport	Swimming
Classifications	SB4
Medal record Men's para-swimming Representing   Italy Paralympic Games 2024 Paris 100 m breaststroke SB4

Manuel Mateo Bortuzzo (born 3 May 1999) is an Italian Paralympic swimmer. ^{[1] [2]} He competed at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, winning a bronze medal in the men's 100 m breaststroke SB4. ^[3]

Career

In 2015 he won the Italian junior record in the 3,000 meters, taking that record away from Gregorio Paltrinieri. ^[4] In February 2019, outside a pub in the southern suburbs of Rome, due to a mistaken identity he was the victim of a shooting, which caused a Spinal cord injury that left him semi-paralyzed. ^[5]

He returned to the pool soon after his accident, but not yet feeling ready, he decided to take a break from swimming. At the end of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, he will resume his sports career. His Paralympic career officially began in November 2022, when he took part in his first Italian short-tub competition in Fabriano, winning a silver for SB4 category.

In May 2023, she qualified for the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships in August of the same year. She officially joins the Italian National Paralympic Swimming Team on May 26, 2023.

In April 2024, she participates in the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships. In late May 2024 he sets the Italian record in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Paralympic Swimming World Cup in Berlin. The following month he competes in the same specialty at the 60th Settecolli Trophy, taking first place.

He officially qualified for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris ^{[6] [7]} in July 2024, and on September 2, 2024, he won the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke SB4, ^[8] also setting the Italian record.

On June 26, 2025 at the 61st Settecolli Trophy, he competed the 100 mt breaststroke, taking third place.

References

1. Poggi, Alessandro; Fava, Gisella (1 August 2023). "Manuel Bortuzzo: Olympic hopeful on overcoming fateful shooting that left him half-paralysed to continue chasing dream as a Para swimmer". Olympics.com .
2. "Manuel Bortuzzo, chi è l'atleta paralimpico del nuoto" [Manuel Bortuzzo, who is the paralympic swimming athlete]. Men's Health (in Italian). 30 August 2024.
3. "BORTUZZO Manuel Mateo". Paris 2024 Paralympics . Retrieved 26 August 2024. (alternate link)
4. Flavia Festa. "L'esordio paralimpico di Manuel Bortuzzo: programma, calendario e dove vedere le gare di nuoto ai Giochi paralimpici di Parigi 2024".
5. Alessandro Poggi. "Bortuzzo, quattro anni dopo l'incidente: "Sono tornato a essere Manuel, l'atleta"".
6. Stefano Arcobelli. "Bortuzzo, il record italiano a Berlino e un pass ormai scontato: sarà Paralimpiade".
7. "Paralimpiadi di Parigi, oggi si parte. Chi sono gli azzurri in gara: da Manuel Bortuzzo a Bebe Vio e Valentina Petrillo".
8. "Tre ori, sei medaglie e un record del mondo". Il Post.