Beatriz Dizotti Becomes First South American to Make Olympic Final in 1500 Free Since 1976

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

Brazilian 21-year-old Beatriz Dizotti made history on Tuesday morning when she qualified 7th for the women’s 1500 freestyle final with a time of 16:05.40.

Dizotti became the first South American woman to make the 1500 free final, but the event just made its debut for the women at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. More impressively, she became the first South American man or woman to qualify for the 1500 free final since 1976, when Brazil’s Djan Madruga (15:19.84) placed 4th back at the Montreal 1976 Olympics.

Dizotti is also only the seventh Brazilian swimmer to reach an Olympic final in any event, according to the CBDA.

Dizotti said she was happy with the result, but not completely satisfied with her time. She owns the Brazilian record at 16:01.95 from last year’s World Championships, where she ultimately placed 7th in 16:03.70. This is Dizotti’s second Olympics, having placed 24th in Tokyo (16:29.37), where her time today would not have made the final.

“Today was not the perfect race yet,” Dizotti said. “I am ready to improve my time in the final and I am very happy. In the last Olympic Games, I was 23rd and swam far from my best time. Today I was able to come here and achieve this feat.

“I am very happy to make history. Everything happens for a reason. In Tokyo, I wouldn’t have been a finalist with this time, but today I managed to come here and make history in Brazilian swimming.”

The third-fastest South American woman ever, Dizotti is aiming to become the third South American woman to break 16 minutes in the women’s 1500 free following Argentina’s Delfina Pignatiello (15:51.68) and Chile’s Kristel Kobrich (15:54.30). Speaking of Kobrich, she kicked off her record-tying sixth Olympics with a 14th-place finish in the 1500 free (16:27.18), matching her placement from Tokyo. The 38-year-old Kobrich is one of just five swimmers to compete at six Olympics along with Turkey’s Derya Buyukuncu, Sweden’s Lars Frolander, Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, and Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli.

In other South American action from the fourth day of pool swimming in Paris, Brazilian sprinter Gui Caribe qualified 12th in the men’s 100 free prelims this morning at 48.35. During the semifinals later in the day, the 21-year-old rising Tennessee junior placed 10th in 48.03, within a tenth of making the final (47.94). Caribe has been as fast as 47.82 in 2022.

Louisville graduate Nick Albiero nearly earned a second swim in the men’s 200 butterfly, touching 18th in 1:56.49. He reached the wall within half a second of what it took to make the semifinals (1:56.03), almost a second slower than what he went at Brazilian Trials (1:55.52).

The Brazilian quartet of Murilo Sartori (1:48.56), Fernando Scheffer (1:46.76), Eduardo Oliveira de Moraes (1:48.53), and Guilherme Costa (1:46.41) placed 12th in the men’s 4×200 free relay prelims in 7:10.26, more than a second shy of making the final (7:08.43 cutoff).

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About Riley Overend

Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …

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