4-Time World Champion Filippo Magnini Expecting a Child Too

4-time World Champion, 17-time European Champion, and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Filippo Magnini has announced the expectation of the birth of his first child. The 38-year old is part of a growing chorus of Olympic swimmers, especially male Olympic swimmers, who have made similar announcements over the last few months. Magnini, along with his partner Gio Palmas, first announced their pregnancy 5 weeks ago, with Magnini revealing that the couple would be having a girl on his Instagram account on Monday.

The mother of the child, Gio Palmas, is probably the more famous half of the couple in Italy, with 1.8 million followers on Instagram. Palmas, who is also 38, was the runner-up for Miss World in 2000. She has also had a successful television and modeling career.

Palmas has a 10-year old daughter with former professional soccer player Davide Bombardini, to whom she was engaged from 2004 through 2011. This is Magnini’s first child.

Magnini swam his last meets in 2017, retiring thereafter when he was given a 4-year doping ban when he received a 4-year doping suspension related to his association with Italian nutritionist Guido Porcellini. In February of this year, that ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) due to insufficient evidence.

He won back-to-back World Championships in the 100 free individually in 2005 and 2007, though he was unable to win an individual Olympic medal on either bookend of that. His one Olympic bronze medal came as part of Italy’s 800 free relay at the 2004 Olympics.

Magnini was named the Italian Sportsman of the Year for 3 consecutive years from 2005 through 2007.

Other Olympians this year who have announced pending births with their partners this year include Daiya Seto, Adam Peaty, Peter Bernek, and Cody Miller.