Santo Condorelli has a take-no-shit attitude when he steps up on the starting blocks.
It has served him well over the past few years. He is bringing it right into the Rio heat too.
The Olympic swimmer, born in Japan, raised in America and competing for Canada, had one of the best qualifying times in the Men’s 100m Freestyle semis and will be aiming for a place on the podium when the final takes place, on Thursday.
Condorelli, who’s mum is a Canuck, has impressed in the pool thus far but a pre-swim ritual has gained him much more attention.
As he approaches the blocks before each race, the 21-year-old locates his father in the crowd and flips him the middle finger.
#CAN @santocondorelli has won his heat in 100m freestyle pic.twitter.com/I32Br9TV9H
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) August 9, 2016
Condorelli’s father, Joseph told Swimswam, earlier this year, about the ritual that began when he was competing at school swim meets. Joseph Condorelli explained:
“I told him, ‘Enough is enough. When you get on the blocks, just put everything out of your mind and swim like there’s nobody near you.
“[Santo] said to me, ‘How do you do that?’ and I said, ‘Well, you say f*** it’.
“So he looked at me in the crowd, and we both gave each other the finger, and he started winning race after race and we never looked back.”
Condorelli will be hoping the ritual pays off on Thursday as he takes on the likes of Nathan Adrian (USA), Kyle Chalmers and Cameron McEvoy (both Australia) in the freestyle final.
